HarperCollins Will Stop Selling Monica Crowley's Book After Plagiarism Accusations
January 10 2017 - 2:13PM
Dow Jones News
By Jeffrey A. Trachtenberg
HarperCollins Publishers is withdrawing Monica Crowley's book
"What the (Bleep) Just Happened?" following allegations of
plagiarism first raised by CNN.
In a brief statement issued Tuesday, HarperCollins said the
title will no longer be available for sale "until such time as the
author has the opportunity to source and revise the material."
President-elect Donald Trump announced he had chosen Ms. Crowley
as senior director of strategic communications for the National
Security Council on Dec. 15.
The plagiarism issue was first reported by CNN in a story that
found Ms. Crowley's book contained "upwards of 50 examples of
plagiarism from numerous sources, including the copying with minor
changes of news articles, other columnists, think tanks, and
Wikipedia."
A spokeswoman for HarperCollins declined to say why the
publishing house didn't directly address the issue of
plagiarism.
Ms. Crowley couldn't be reached for comment, and the incoming
Trump administration didn't immediately respond to a request for
comment.
The recall is expected to affect only a small number of
paperbacks still in print plus the e-book edition of the work first
published in June 2012. In its statement, HarperCollins said the
book "has reached the end of its natural sales cycle."
"What the (Bleep) Just Happened?" has sold 23,000 copies in
hardcover and paperback, according to Nielsen BookScan, which
tracks 85% of retail book sales in the U.S. excluding digital
copies.
Ms. Crowley had previously been a Fox News contributor. A
spokeswoman for Fox News said that the network terminated Ms.
Crowley's contract when she joined the Trump administration. 21st
Century Fox, which owns Fox News, and News Corp, parent company of
The Wall Street Journal and HarperCollins, share common
ownership.
Shortly after Ms. Crowley was named to the National Security
Council post, she resigned as online opinion editor and columnist
for the Washington Times, said David Keene, opinion editor for the
newspaper.
Ms. Crowley's book was published by Broadside Books, a
conservative imprint owned by HarperCollins, and later hit the New
York Times best-seller list.
In its catalog copy, HarperCollins described the book as a
"savvy critique of the state of our union" under President Barack
Obama and that it offers "inspiration and a positive message to
conservatives and concerned Americans everywhere that the way to
fight back and win is with principle, conviction...and a wicked
sense of humor." The paperback edition was updated after President
Obama's re-election and published as "What the (Bleep) Just
Happened...Again?"
Damian Paletta contributed to this article.
Write to Jeffrey A. Trachtenberg at
jeffrey.trachtenberg@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
January 10, 2017 13:58 ET (18:58 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2017 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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