It is legitimate to blame the woman who wants to become Chancellor of Germany for not having done a clean job. When dealing with the chancellor candidate, there remains an aftertaste, says stern-Reporter Kerstin Herrnkind.
Stern reporter Kerstin Herrnkind thinks that the plagiarism allegations against Annalena Baerbock carry weight. Your colleague Axel Vornbäum has a completely different opinion. You can read his comment here.
The Greens speak of character assassination. No, this is not a character assassination. Character killers spread vicious lies, knowing full well that they are not true. What happened to Bettina Wulff was character assassination. Annalena Baerbock has written off. Anyone can read it who looks at the published passages that the media scientist and plagiarism hunter Stefan Weber has found. And it is legitimate to reproach the woman who wants to become Chancellor of Germany, indeed who wants to renew the country, that she did not work properly.
No author breaks the crown when he or she uses quotation marks. To show who was the godfather of your own work. And who has been left with the paperwork. Because that’s what it’s all about. Of course, authors can copy boring facts and figures from a reputable source. The work begins when you explain what they mean. That’s exactly what the Climate Challenge bloggers did. You have put it in a nutshell that climate change affects “the entire value chain of companies” and how. Baerbock has taken over the few sentences literally. Instead of bothering to come up with your own phrase. It’s okay if there are quotation marks behind and in front. A bibliography also adorns every narrative non-fiction book – even if it is not a must.
At least unfriendly from Annalena Baerbock
The fact that Baerbock chewed on parts of the green election program in her book is something she is granted as a top candidate. But she has apparently also stolen a passage from the Berlin “Tagesspiegel” in which the consequences of a hurricane are described. It is a very short passage, but here too it makes use of the author, who has thought about how this tropical storm could be portrayed vividly. Without naming him. That is at least unfriendly.
And then there is a passage from the Federal Agency for Civic Education. It’s about the eastward expansion, a longer passage with facts and figures. The Bundeszentrale is an authority that has set itself the task of making political and historical topics understandable for citizens. But even if the texts are intended to serve the common good, they are protected by copyright. With the reference to the Federal Central Office, Baerbock could have advertised what I think is a very useful institution that is committed to political education. Baerbock probably also copied from the political scientist Michael T. Klare. What would she have forgiven herself if she had called him? Nothing.
Now you have to admit that everyone who writes almost always steals. A thought from colleague XY, an idea and formulation from colleague Z. Facts from hopefully reputable sources. I also use other media for this comment. The prey is reformulated, further spun, supplemented. The public discourse thrives on it. But when you take over one-to-one, you quote. Schoolchildren learn this already in middle school. That a sentence slips through, okay, but not entire passages. There would be a point deduction in the school essay. A journalist who copies passages risks a warning. And malicious comments on media sites. Doctoral students must expect that their title will be withdrawn if they do not identify every line of thought, every footnote that does not come from their own pen. Politicians risk trust.
Now Baerbock has not written any scientific work. Right. Nevertheless, she should have quoted correctly, copyright does not only apply to scientists. Many readers probably don’t even know the difference between a non-fiction book and a scientific paper. And she must have taken an advance payment for her book.
Baerbock can be defended publicly by a well-known media lawyer. He never tires of emphasizing that he can “not even begin to recognize” a copyright infringement. That’s what he’s paid for. Lawyers will now argue in comments about the number of characters from which plagiarism begins. What factual information and intellectual property is. But that’s not the point.
It’s about the stale aftertaste that remains after Baerbock has not been so careful with the information on her curriculum vitae. Well she didn’t quote properly. Too bad. She didn’t need to. And something else is weird: Annalena Baerbock could now simply say that it slipped through her so. It happens. With the stress. Instead, she threatens a lawyer and the Greens are blowing a storm on alleged character assassins. This is not a renewal. This is a culture of mistakes from the moth box.
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