Barnicle resigns from Globe

By Boston.com Staff and Associated Press, 08/19/98

RELATED COVERAGE COLUMN IN QUESTION "Through pain, a common bond" STATEMENT From Globe Editor Matthew V. Storin Resignation comes on eve of publication of new plagiarism allegations

BOSTON - Boston Globe columnist Mike Barnicle resigned from the newspaper Wednesday amid new allegations that he fabricated material for one of his columns published nearly three years ago.

The resignation comes less than a week after the Globe underwent what the newspaper's editor termed a "painful" ordeal with Barnicle over an August 2, 1998 column that contained material from a book by George Carlin. The columnist was suspended, then asked for his resignation, then suspended for two months without pay on August 11.

At an afternoon meeting with newsroom staff, Globe Editor Matthew V. Storin announced that he was alerted to possible fabrications in an October 8, 1995 Barnicle column by a former Readers Digest editor who had wanted to reprint it in the magazine. Readers Digest fact-checkers, unable to verify much of the column's details, dropped its investigation. But the editor, Kenneth Tomlinson, alerted Storin of his findings after last week's highly-publicized controversy.

The column, titled "Through pain, a common bond," recounts the story of two sets of parents with cancer-stricken children who had struck up a friendship during a stint at Children's Hospital in Boston in the summer of 1994. When one of the boys, a black child, dies, the parents of the other boy, a white child who had begun to recover, send the down-on-their-luck parents a check for $10,000.

When Storin and Walter V. Robinson, who last week was named as the new editor in charge of Barnicle's columns, confronted the columnist with charges of fabrication, Barnicle said he did not obtain the story from either of the parents, but from a nurse at another hospital. When Barnicle did not produce the name of the nurse, and Robinson could not find a death that matched that of the child, Barnicle was again asked to resign. This time, he complied.

Globe Editor Matthew V. Storin (left) and Walter V. Robinson, who was named last week as the new editor of Barnicle's columns, after the newsroom meeting. (Globe Staff Photo / John Tlumacki)

Barnicle is the second Globe columnist to resign in the last few months. In June, columnist Patricia Smith resigned after admitting to fabricating characters in four of her columns.

Barnicle submitted his resignation to Globe chairman William O. Taylor.

In a statement to WCVB-TV, Barnicle said his resignation was ''the best thing for the paper.''

Storin made the announcement to the newsroom even as The Boston Phoenix weekly newspaper was reporting that Barnicle had lifted material without attribution from writer A.J. Liebling for a 1986 column.

"In light of his failure to follow the most basic reporting requirements, as well as the duplicitous way in which the story was written, it is clear that Mike Barnicle can no longer write for The Boston Globe,'' Storin said in a statement.

In an interview Wednesday night on cable station MSNBC, where Barnicle is a regular contributor, Barnicle said that a nurse had told him the story over the telephone and that a Globe operator, who he did not identify, also heard the story. He said that since his editors had contacted him with their concerns, he had tried to track down the nurse, but without success.

"I believed that story to be true. I still believe that story to be true,'' said Barnicle, speaking from Hyannis Port. "It was not fabricated.''

Citing a "feeding frenzy'' that followed the earlier accusations about the Carlin material, Barnicle said "the weight of all this became too much for the Globe to carry .''

"The editor of the Globe, the staff of the Globe, they're charged with putting out the best possible product they can each and every day and they can't be responding to these charges involving me each and every day,'' he said.

Barnicle's tenure at the Globe has been controversial. While the veracity of his work has been called into question by critics and colleagues alike, he maintained tremendous popularity among Globe readers. Last week, when Storin's request for Barnicle's resignation was rescinded, many at the Globe expressed outrage at what appeared to them as a double-standard when compared to the resignation of Smith. But support for Barnicle flooded the Globe's telephone lines and email box, with thousands of readers demanding his retention.

The announcement of Barnicle's resignation, called for by editors on Tuesday and delivered by the columnist on Wednesday, drew applause and laughter from some of those attending the newsroom meeting.

The newspaper came under fire on August 11 when it agreed to suspend Barnicle for two months after originally calling for his resignation over the Carlin controversy. Local black activists and others, including more than 50 Globe employees, complained the newspaper was guilty of a double standard, essentially firing a black woman while protecting a middle-aged white man.

On August 5, it was discovered that some of the lines in Barnicle's August 2 column "I was just thinking . . ." had appeared in Carlin's best-selling book. After Barnicle said he had never read the book, Storin issued a one-month suspension. Later that afternoon, when WCVB-TV aired a "Chronicle" video clip showing Barnicle recommending the book to viewers, Storin called for his resignation. That request was later rescinded and a two-month suspension issued.

''It's obviously a sad day for the Globe in that we have to go through this again,'' said Assistant Metro Editor Joe Williams, one of several staffers who last week drafted a statement opposing the paper's decision to suspend - and not fire - Barnicle.

''But it points to what we've been maintaining all along, that Barnicle's work was not beyond reproach, and the paper's decision to bring him back was a bad one,'' Williams said. ''You never like to see anybody's career lie in ruins, but we all knew this was a possibility.''

In addition to regular appearances as a commentator on WCVB's "Chronicle," Barnicle is a frequent guest on MSNBC, the Don Imus show and PBS' NewsHour with Jim Lehrer.

Paul La Camera, president and general manager of WCVB-TV, said Wednesday that Barnicle would remain with that station's ''Chronicle'' program.