DUBAI // A British journalist who wrote award-winning articles about Dubai and other topics for The Independent newspaper in London has confessed to plagiarism and other ethical breaches.
"I did two wrong and stupid things," Johann Hari wrote in an apology on the newspaper's website yesterday.
He admitted quotes in some of his interviews had been taken from articles by other writers without attribution, as they sounded more articulate.
Mr Hari also used a fake identity on Wikipedia to remove criticism of people he admired and add malicious claims about his critics, including calling one "a drunk".
He had been suspended from The Independent since July while his work was investigated.
Mr Hari is on unpaid leave until next year and will take a course in journalism at his own expense, including instruction in ethics.
He has also returned the Orwell Prize for political journalism that he won in 2008.
Mr Hari is expected to resume his post next year, but will have to provide footnotes and recordings of interviews online.
His 2009 article, The Dark Side of Dubai, described the emirate as having been built on "credit and ecocide, suppression and slavery".
The piece helped him to win the 2009 Martha Gellhorn Prize for Journalism.
Some Dubai residents and journalists had questioned whether people in the article had been quoted accurately or entirely fabricated.
The New Statesman columnist Guy Walters told The National in July that an Emirati blogger interviewed for the article told him Mr Hari's account of their meeting was "a gross distortion".
At the time, Mr Hari could not be reached for comment.
Matt Duffy, who teaches media ethics at Zayed University, said Mr Hari's confession cast doubt on previous work, including the Dubai article.
"That report would have to be looked at through the filter of these events," Mr Duffy said.
"At this point, he needs to prove to us that that report is true, not the other way around."
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