King resigns and apologises over controversy

IRISH EXAMINER columnist Steven King has resigned from the newspaper following his suspension over claims that he plagiarised content.

Mr King, a freelance writer and a former political adviser to UUP leader and former Northern first minister David Trimble, yesterday apologised to Irish Examiner editor Tim Vaughan, acknowledging that he had let the newspaper and its readers down.

The column was suspended by Mr Vaughan last Friday when claims surfaced that material published by Brendan O’Neill, editor of the British online magazine Spiked, had been plagiarised by Mr King.

Repeated attempts to contact him over subsequent days were unsuccessful, but Mr King has since explained that he was in Ethiopia and was not able to pick up voicemails or emails until his return to New Delhi, where he is now a director with APCO, the global public affairs and strategic communications firm.

“I must apologise wholeheartedly if any material was unoriginal, any research was insufficiently thorough and if any attributions to other authors were insufficient,” said Mr King.

“I could make all sorts of excuses: the pressure of work; a once fantastically happy marriage almost shattered by mental illness; the death of a partner which is extremely difficult to accept. But the buck stops with me.”

His partner Jean Claude took his own life last year. Mr King wrote movingly about the tragedy in his column last year.

Accepting his resignation, Mr Vaughan reiterated that plagiarism is not tolerated by the Irish Examiner. While it would be totally impractical and unworkable to put the content of an entire newspaper through plagiarism detection software prior to publication, random checks will be made on an on-going basis, he said.

“It is not a fool-proof system as there has to be a lot of trust with regular freelance contributors such as columnists. That is the same for every newspaper, and if that trust is breached, action has to be taken,” said Mr Vaughan. “Transgressors have been severely sanctioned in the past, and anybody who tries it in future will be dealt with firmly.”

A review of Mr King’s columns was launched after the revelation by blogger Brian Whelan that in seven instances over the past year, the columnist repeated, almost verbatim, content published by Mr O’Neill. Other columns reviewed by the Irish Examiner, published since Mr King started writing for the newspaper in 2006, showed some lesser instances of misappropriated content, while others showed nothing untoward.

Mr Vaughan said he was “surprised, angry, saddened and disappointed” and found it difficult to comprehend Mr King’s actions.

“Steven is an extremely bright man and I find it difficult to understand why he resorted to this. It’s a real pity because he was a brilliant, always interesting columnist, but unfortunately, and regrettably, something went very wrong along the way.”

Reacting to Mr King’s resignation, Spiked editor Mr O’Neill said: “I am happy that this has come to an end and the way it has been dealt with by the Irish Examiner. The editor took it very seriously and the way he handled the matter was admirable. It was sorted out quickly and efficiently.”