Knight Foundation, the journalism organization that recently paid disgraced science writer Jonah Lehrer $20,000 to speak about his plagiarism and fabrication, said Wednesday evening it now regrets paying the speaker’s fee.
“In retrospect, as a foundation that has long stood for quality journalism, paying a speaker’s fee was inappropriate,” the group said in a blog post. “Controversial speakers should have platforms, but Knight Foundation should not have put itself into a position tantamount to rewarding people who have violated the basic tenets of journalism. We regret our mistake.”
The blog post added: “The fee was not unusual for a well-known author to address a large conference. But it was simply not something Knight Foundation, given our values, should have paid.”
Read the whole thing here.
