By whose hand? ... Close-up of a journalist's notebook"
Is nothing sacred? The history of journalism is scattered with cases of plagiarism, but now it seems you can't even rely on hacks to create their own storms in teacups without needing someone else to do it for them. Ramiro Burr, a music writer for the San Antonio Express-News, has left his position after it transpired he'd been hiring another journalist, Douglas Shannon, to ghostwrite some of his columns since 2001.
On his own blog, Burr tried to write the scandal off as a case of his being "a little overzealous"- which is an interesting way of describing getting someone else to do your work for you.
It appears the scam only came to light when Shannon - quite reasonably, if a little naively - asked editors for a byline, having penned over 100 articles for Burr. I'd like to know what sort of retainer Burr was on, that he could afford to split the cash with someone else. Shannon is clearly a competent journalist; he kept Burr in a job for seven years, after all. So why agree to hide behind someone else's name for so long? As he's got it so completely back to front, he obviously doesn't understand the whole point of ghostwriting. So if you're reading, Douglas, here's a word of advice: next time you agree to put your words into someone else's mouth, take a leaf out of one of Hunter Davies' many books. Don't be proud. Do little, do it often, and hide behind a genuinely famous name.
