On a day when the luck of embattled Harvard University President Claudine Gay finally ran out, her apologists in the media portrayed her as a victim and in the case of one CNN talking head, her serial plagiarism was just a matter of sloppiness.
Weeks of pressure over her dishonest academic work as well as her failure to adequately address the anti-Semitism problem at the formerly prestigious Ivy League institution of higher learning forced the unapologetic diversity hire to tender her resignation and CNN’s Matt Egan twisted himself into knots to downplay Gay’s bad habit of using the work of others to burnish her own credentials.
On Tuesday’s edition of “CNN News Central,” Egan reacted to the news by gaslighting viewers over what plagiarism is and sugarcoating the immense damage that Gay has done to Harvard’s reputation.
“It was just three weeks ago that the Harvard Corporation, the university’s top governing board announced its unanimous support for Claudine Gay, this news makes you wonder just how unanimous that support really was and how much depth there really was to that support,” he said.
(Video: CNN)
“As you mentioned, this is really a combination of multiple factors, right? It was the fact that the university’s response to October 7 was criticized as not condemning Hamas forcefully enough. The Harvard Corporation actually criticized Claudine Gay’s initial response and then you throw on top of that the testimony, right?” Egan continued, referring to Gay’s disastrous congressional Q & A.
“Now, we should note that Claudine Gay has not been accused of stealing anyone’s ideas in any of her writings,” Egan stated. “She’s been accused of, sort of, more like copying other people’s writings without attribution. So it’s been more sloppy attribution than stealing anyone’s ideas, but nonetheless, you put all that together and you throw on top the political pressure and also the pressure from donors.”
“In just the last few days, we’ve heard from another powerful donor threatening to– actually promising to hold off donations to the school. So when you add all of that up, it seems as though it’s been more than Claudine Gay’s presidency could survive and, you know, this is a tough moment for one of the most prestigious universities in America. Its brand has clearly taken a very big hit in just the past few months,” he added, acknowledging the hit to Harvard’s carefully cultivated image.
Egan’s spin may have been good enough to fool the network’s gullible viewers but X users weren’t swallowing it.
“copying other peoples writings without attribution” – if only we had a word for this
— Damin Toell (@damintoell) January 2, 2024
“Change the definition of plagiarism with this one simple trick!”
— The Dank Knight (@capeandcowell) January 2, 2024
“Mostly peaceful plagiarism.”
— Ranch Barlow (@iamranchbarlow) January 2, 2024
THAT is the definition of plagiarism you joker lol
— Legalman (@UScrimeReview) January 2, 2024
CNN is showing how their reporters are a bunch of flunkies who don’t know the meaning of words
— Kyle Becker (@kylenabecker) January 2, 2024
“we’re not state sponsored media, we’re sort of copying what the dems tell us to say, without attribution”
— decoy (@decoyposts) January 2, 2024
CNN is the network that called the BLM riots “mostly peaceful” so we should expect no less from the leader in fake news
— Paul A. Szypula (@Bubblebathgirl) January 2, 2024
CNN’s partisan viewers show up because they know CNN will do this dance for them.
— Andrea E (@AAC0519) January 2, 2024
“The party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command.” – George Orwell, 1984
— Kenny Howard (@God_winsforever) January 2, 2024
Someone is very important to the Regime…
— James Lindsay, anti-Fascist (@ConceptualJames) January 2, 2024
Sounds a little defensive: maybe he’s afraid people might examine *his* work closely…
— John Kalagian (@JohnKalagian) January 3, 2024
Granted that it’s very early in the year and there will be a slew of other contenders but Egan’s remarks are definitely worthy of the media mendacity award for 2024.
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