> it didn't deserve the media scrutiny and pile-on

How bad was it? I didn't notice anything of the sort, and I'm curious if maybe your algorithm feeds you a fire hydrant of crap most people never see.

I ask because there were instances of plagiarism between 2016 and 2020 (I only remember it was Trump's first term) that I saw significant media coverage of, including them being called before Congress in the USA.

For this guy, I only saw one headline, when the alleged plagiarism was revealed, and that was it. I didn't even recognize this guy's name when I saw this new headline on here a few minutes ago. (I did recognize him once I saw his pic at the OP link.)

This might be just the reverse of a common thing online: "Why won't the media cover this story??" when in fact they are covering this story, it's just that you are passively looking only at what your friends are reposting on social media.

EDIT: also not for nothing, but if your argument is "prejudice exists because racists think he shouldn't have been at Cambridge," then him plagiarizing and lying about things cuts against your entire argument bc, assuming the allegations are true, he never belonged at Cambridge, and his race is irrelevant.

(I agree significant prejudice against Black people exist in the developed world, but I'm disinclined to agree about it here considering the women in the US—another historically disadvantaged group—who faced these same allegations a few years ago didn't crash out and kill themselves. Which is what it sounds like this individual did. And in those women's cases, it's with the full weight of Trump's MAGA calling for their heads and probably worse.)

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itsibitzi 4 hours ago | parent | next [-]

He was repeatedly at the top of the Guardian's website at least. I can't think of a single other instance of academic fraud being pushed to the top of any news site for several days running.

	▲	sampo 3 hours ago \| parent \| next [-]
		> I can't think of a single other instance of academic fraud being pushed to the top of any news site for several days running. The news cycle about Harvard University president in December 2023 might have been close. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claudine_Gay#Plagiarism_invest...
	▲	wk_end 4 hours ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		Well, he wasn't just an academic, but also a media icon/minor celebrity (he has/had a memoir coming out). His academic fraud and plagiarism was just one thing - aside from the race angle, his story probably got lots of media attention just because of how comically absurd and obvious his self-mythologizing was. It's not academic but the closest similar case that's coming to mind off the top of my head was when James Frey (who FWIW is white) got found out for A Million Little Pieces, which definitely was major news.

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valdiorn 3 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

> How bad was it? I didn't notice anything of the sort, and I'm curious if maybe your algorithm feeds you a fire hydrant of crap most people never see.

No, this has been top 5 headline news in the UK for the last week. Basically every major media outlet has been covering it, including BBC, guardian, Telegraph, daily mail etc.