J201
Blogged Research Report
10/15/13
“Proust Wasn’t a
Neuroscientist. Neither was Jonah Lhrer”
In the article “Proust Wasn’t a
Neuroscientist. Neither was Jonah Lehrer” by Boris Kachka, the downfall of
neuroscience journalist Jonah Lehrer was the issue at the forefront. After the
journalist built up numerous credentials throughout his short-lived career, the
matter of self-plagiarism played the starting role in his tumultuous downfall
as a respected and noteworthy journalist.
Lehrer reached prestige in his career through his blog Frontal Cortex, wired.com, The New Yorker, and his lectures (Kachka, 2012). When
word first got out of his self-plagiarism, all of his other works then came
into question regarding their credibility. As editors and fact-checkers soon
found out, Lehrer had been guilty of multiple self-plagiarizing offenses among
other source-based infidelities. These mishaps undoubtedly lead to the end of
his career.
Boris
Kachka went much in depth into the analysis of Lehrer’s work to others in the
field such as Malcolm Gladwell, and found much reason to elaborate on very specific
offenses that Lehrer leant a hand in ruining his own career. The passion
portrayed through Kachka’s writing gave much insight into his motivation for
writing such a piece. Boris Kachka is Columbia University alum who achieved a
Bachelor’s degree in English and Master’s in Journalism. His education led him
to start at the bottom of the journalistic community at New York Magazine, where he then made his way up to being a
well-noted culture writer for the magazine, as well as contributing to other
publications such as the New York Times,
GQ, Elle, and Condé Nast Traveler.
He has said of himself “my favorite stories to read and write are those I just
can’t shut up about.” (Kachka) This accordingly leads to the passion and depth
that he goes into when describing Lehrer and his journalistic defaults and the
implications that arose from them.
The article
was published on nymag.com, the
corresponding website of New York
Magazine. Thought the fact that Boris Kachka is a staff writer at this
publication has huge reason in why the article was placed here, there are
others as well. Though the magazine, created in 1968, was originally known for
its NYC city life and lifestyle audiences, it has evolved over the years with an
increasing focus on political and cultural stories of greater significance
(Company Info). This story deems significant to media consumers all over the
country and world regarding our skepticisms of credibility in journalists so nymag.com worked to publish an important
piece regarding our society and culture today.
In reading
the reviews of the article, I discovered many people were very unpleased by the
presentation, content, and significance placed on the story. Many reviews
criticized Kachka for his own fact-checking errors regarding Lehrer’s work.
Many also felt that the story was very insignificant in the grand scope of
things (Kachka, 2012). Overall, my personal reaction to
the article and the bulk of reviews lead me to believe that this was an article
to be very skeptical about in reading. While it presents noteworthy
information, its presentation and grandeur were not fit for the actual
discussion.
Kachka, Boris
(2012, Oct 28). Proust Wasn’t a Neuroscientist. Neither was Jonah Lehrer. nymag.com. Retrieved from http://nymag.com/news/features/jonah-lehrer-2012-11/.
Kachka, Boris
(N/A). About. Boris Kachka. Retrieved
from http://boriskachka.com/about/.
N/A (N/A) Company
Info. nymag.com. Retrieved from http://nymag.com/newyork/aboutus/.
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