On Friday afternoon I wrote an open letter to Cardinal Dolan here at Coming Home. As has been our working practice, Steven Ertelt at Lifenews.com reposted my piece at his site almost immediately that afternoon (changing the title, as is his custom). What Steven neglected to do was give me attribution as the author of the piece. As a result, the piece carried Steven Ertelt’s name as the author, and it did not appear under my column.
This caused me no small amount of heartburn, as it has happened a few times before, and over the next 18 hours I sent Steven several emails asking him to correct the error, telling him that people were beginning to question the attribution: did I take the piece from him?!
Steven said my emails were buried in a mountain of emails to him, apologized, and corrected the error as soon as he saw my email some 24 hours later. However, by that time the damage was done and there was no public statement on his site explaining the error. After an exchange of emails today (Monday), Steven placed an editor’s note at the bottom of the original article after changing the name. It evidently was sufficiently buried to escape the notice of a reader from Irleand who sent me the following email:
Hello Dr Gerard Nadal,
I read your statement on Obama’s Mandate. I’m totally in agreement with it. However, the byline was “by Gerard Nadal”. Now if you care to look, I had a link to the same article published a few “Comments” above the lady who gave your link and it was to Archbishop Timothy Dolan’s blog on http://www.archny.org/ . This statement was on http://www.lifenews.com/ and I think you should have credited this organization with the statement. I’m going no further with this as we all must stick together. However, it is good to give credit where credit is due.
Indeed.
Steven Ertelt is a good man who is doing a great work at Lifenews. However, I have not been able to succeed in getting him to make a statement placed in a noticeable position on his main page that would clear the air. It’s unfortunate, as I have allowed my writing to be published on his site free of charge. However, such an egregious error, however innocently made requires more than a private apology and a note buried at the bottom of the original article (which nobody is going to re-read!).
So absent a separate article at Lifenews explaining the error, an explanation which would have cleared the air and restored my good name for those misled by the error, (people who may not be inclined to write) I’m publishing this correction and explanation 72 hours later in my more limited sphere of influence and consequently no longer writing for Lifenews.com.
Though I would have preferred that the explanation come from Steven, I honestly wish Steven all the best.
Coming Home is moving forward.
Coming Home 
This comes as no surprise to me.
Why does this sound like you are throwing out the baby with the bath water? 😦
Leo,
All I have is my good name. This isn’t the first, second, or third time that this has happened. God will provide, so be of good cheer 🙂
Oh Dr. Nadal, I am so sorry to hear this has happened. Both you and Steve have been amazing lights for the Pro-Life movement. It hurts me and so many of us who love and appreciate you both to see that something like this can come between two great pro-life champions. I pray to God that you can reconcile with Steve and be back on Life Site News very soon. We need your writings spread to as many people as possible! Praying for a peaceful, speedy resolution! In the meantime, keep writing!
[Elizabeth~ I’m still on LifeSiteNews. Steven’s site is LifeNews. Just to be clear 😉 GN]
Elizabeth, please don’t confuse LifeSiteNews with LifeNews.
[…] « Obama’s Tactical Retreat and Cardinal Dolan’s White Flag Correcting the Record on My Open Letter to Cardinal Dolan […]
Disappointing that this could happen with “people of character”
Unfortunate, to say the least. Praying.
A songwriter would not put up with it… not even once. A book author would not put up with it… nor an artist. You showed great patience and grace, allowing such a serious oversight to continue as long as it has! Now we have to wonder if ANY of Steven’s postings are actually his?? You are perfectly correct to be disturbed, Gerard! I would have raised hackles at the first one. You are a fine gentleman!
People will always disappoint, at some point, at some time. It is inevitable. Keep you the good work, Dr. Nadal.
I meant “keep up the good work” . It’s 5:30 a.m. and only one cup of coffee down.
Rebecca, Without any coffee yet, I read the first one as ‘keep up the good work’ 🙂
Elizabeth, Thank you for the affirmation. I needed to break ties lest people begin to say the same of me, as the reader from Ireland alluded. God Bless.
Elizabeth, I can assure you that any LifeNews article that appears under my name is written by me. How said that Gerry has left you (and how many others) with the false impression that that is not the case. At a time when the pro-life movement is fighting so many battles on so many fronts to protect the unborn, this is a shame.
[Agreed, Steven. I note how rapidly and publicly you protest your innocence and integrity when accused of plagiarism. Unlike your site which denied me a similar voice, I permit you a voice at my site. You have been permitted to respond publicly and immediately. I needed to write to first get you to change the name, then again to get a public correction, which you buried at the foot of the original article, then again for a more public statement in the face of an allegation of plagiarism, and you wrote one on a hidden page for me to email to people. You refused a simple, stand-alone statement to clear the air for people who had already read the original piece. Don’t trot out the babies as a human shield. At least I’ve given you the public forum you denied me after you published my work in your name. GN]
It is disappointing that you have chosen to post a public column attacking LifeNews and me for what amounts to a very minor error that was corrected immediately after learning of it.
To correct the record for your readers who will now be left with a false impression that LifeNews was out to besmirch your name or make you look bad…
Gerry has been an excellent guest blogger at LifeNews for some time and we have greatly appreciated his excellent pro-life contributions. Because we process so many pro-life news and opinion columns every day, mistakes sometimes happen and they are corrected as soon as we are notified of them — as is the case with any other news agency.
On Friday, we posted the excellent column from Gerry, Cardinal Dolan: Fight Harder Against Obama’s Mandate, and I accidentally forgot to change the tag on the author name to Gerry’s from the default, which is mine. Because of a mass of emails LifeNews received Friday night as we and the pro-life movement fought to respond to President Barack Obama’s recent attack on pro-lifers via his pro-abortion mandate, I did not read Gerry’s emails asking for us to correct the name on the article until Saturday.
Immediately after being notified of the error, I changed the name and posted a public correction, stating, “This column was originally not attributed to Gerard Nadal by mistake. LifeNews regrets the error.”
Anyone can see this public correction by going to http://www.lifenews.com/2012/02/10/cardinal-dolan-fight-harder-against-obamas-mandate/ and viewing the Editor’s Note at the bottom of the article.
[As the letter from the reader in Ireland indicates, the impression of me as the one plagiarizing Steven Ertelt was formed. My position was clearly stated to Ertelt all day yesterday: Posting a correction at the bottom of the article that was already read does nothing to reach those who already read the article. A separate, stand-alone article with a title such as “Apologies to Dr. Nadal” is the right and just thing to do in order to set the record straight, especially when the allegations of my being a plagiarist are coming in from across the Atlantic Ocean. GN]
Not only did I provide a public correction for Gerry, I offered him a method of contacting me much more quickly in the future should we make a mistake or him in any of his columns at LifeNews that needed correction.
Sadly, instead of accepting my apology and public correction, Gerry has chosen to take what should have been a quick fix ad simple error to the next level. He has steadfastly refused to accept my apology, earnestly offered from a fellow Christian, chosen to end his relationship with LifeNews and deny our pro-life audience the ability to read his columns and good work, and has posted this public article besmirching my good name and that of LifeNews.
I’m very disappointed this has damaged our relationship and caused Gerry to no longer be a part of LifeNews. But this is more fundamentally disappointing – in that someone who truly, genuinely was sorry for an honest mistake is being attacking in public the way Gerry is now attacking me. LifeNews strives to serve the pro-life community with timely, helpful news and information and your contributions were helpful in reaching that goal. Gerry’s blog has a similar purpose. Now, instead of accepting an apology for an honest mistake and a correction made in good faith, Gerry is engaging in a public feud.
There are millions of babies dying from abortion every day and it’s beyond comprehension that we’re spending time publicly debating a simple error. What a grave disservice to the cause.
[Again, Steven, the apology buried at the bottom of the article doesn’t reach those who already read the article. Further, you conveniently place on me the burden of forgiving you while you do a throughly inadequate job of clearing the air and restoring my name. You have deemed this a simple error because you weren’t the one being accused of plagiarism. However, I see how hotly you are defending your good name now that Elizabeth has called your character into question. Welcome to my world. Yours is not the only pro-life outfit reprinting my material. I wish you well. Let us speak of this no more. GN]
I regret to say that the manner in which Steven Ertelt has handled the situation, from beginning to self-righteous end, does not surprise me in the least. Dr. Gerard is rather gracious and adult throughout the exchange. In no wise does he “besmirch” Ertelt’s or LifeNews names. Ertelt’s own mighty pen (or keyboard, as the case may be) has regularly done so well enough, which is why I turned to less juvenile sources some time ago.
I applaud Dr. Gerard’s gracious attitude. I suspect that I find Ertelt’s so irksome because it is too like my own, which I regret and acknowledge too often belies a conceit devilishly rooted in an otherwise righteous zeal.
God grant me humility – only wait just a moment, until after I post this comment…
To Steven Ertelt: As a person with no prior knowledge of either party or the situation until I stumbled upon this, I have to say you are on some pretty shaky ground. Regardless of how quickly you reacted after you were made aware of your mistake, it was still a very long time until the mistake was corrected. You are still responsible for all that time. You readily admit to the mistake, so it is upon YOU to make restitution to the offended party in a way that satisfies that party. It doesn’t matter if you think you did enough, Nadal obviously doesn’t think it was enough & he’s the one you need to satisfy. His good name has been besmirched and because your “apology” wasn’t adequate to the situation, his name continues to be called into question.Therefore, the original insult you perpetrated has not been resolved and Nadal has given you clear instructions as to what will constitute a resolution to the situation. It would seem that no one save yourself feels his request is unwarranted or extraneous to the situation. It’s not just enough to say “I’m sorry”, you have to make restitution.
I did follow the link you posted and although you have corrected the byline, the editor’s statement at the bottom may have been sufficient if there hadn’t been much time between the posting & the correction. Even if it was only posted for 5 minutes, the request to have the correction placed at the top, just below the byline is neither unheard of nor unreasonable. As an editor, it is standard practice to place such a correction at the top of the article, in bold face, should I make the same mistake. Your writers are your bread & butter, it’s integral to your job to keep them happy.
As for the insinuation that Nadal had deprived the pro-life movement of his writings, I seriously doubt that. From what I have read, he is a very intelligent writer who expresses himself in a clear & concise manner. Anyone who has read his articles on your site have probably already been here to his. The internet is a great word-to-mouth world, he’ll have no problem posting his articles wherever he desires.
Jamie,
Thank you for the kind words. It’s a mystery to me how Steven has come here with effusive explanation and apology, and yet would not publish a simple, stand-alone correction on his site for people to see who had already read the article and who consequently would not have occasion to see the correction he placed at the bottom of the article more than 50 hours after the mistake.
I appreciate your editor’s perspective and the clarity you brought as a third party. It simply remains for me to do the work I’m called to do and trust the rest to Providence.
God Bless.
Ah, Providence! And the immense graces received by anyone suffering any amount for any reason while working for the Kingdom of God! We are blessed!
GMN – Keep up the good work!
Steven Ertelt -The fact that you chose to come here to Dr. Nadal’s blog and make such a fuss amazes me. I think there was nothing wrong with Dr. Nadal seeking clarification as to his authorship of the article and when it wasn’t properly given, and he was accused of plagiarism, posting clarification himself. You state that “Gerry is now attacking me” and that “Gerry is engaging in a public feud”. I don’t understand how anyone can perceive Dr. Nadal explaining what happened, what he was accused of by a reader and how you chose to address it as an “attack” or a “public feud”. You are the one making a public fuss about it all. Further, I find you stating “There are millions of babies dying from abortion every day and it’s beyond comprehension that we’re spending time publicly debating a simple error. What a grave disservice to the cause.” to be in extreme bad taste. Nothing is being debated. A simple statement of clarification and the reasons behind it was all that was said. There was no “grave disservice to the cause” in no ones mind, except maybe your own. I agree it’s time to move on and get back to the work at hand….we all have already…have you?
If Dr. Nadal’s articles are not being published at LifeNews, and Ertelt is engaging in questionable practices more than once (which he seems to be doing), and fails to take proper steps to rectify the problem, then I have no longer any use of LifeNews and will avoid it completely henceforward.
I’m in agreement with Jamie here, although I believe the error has now been corrected. It’s evident who wrote the piece and correct attribution has been made. However, if this has happened on more than one occasion I can see how you would be reluctant to continue providing your excellent articles for their website.
Onward Dr. Nadal! You have much, much more to offer in the service of the prolife cause!
Dr. Nadal,
I’m sorry that this happened. I’ve had problems with Steve for quite a few years. I’m not surprised, sadly.
Helen Westover
Founder
Stop Planned Parenthood.
Helen,
Thanks for sharing this with me. It seems to be the consensus both on this thread and in private emails. It’s a shame, because it’s so unnecessary. The man makes a living largely by reprinting other people’s work, work for which I have never charged a penny when written on my blog, or in exclusive pieces for him.
There is simply no excuse for plagiarism, especially with the people who write for him.
Hey Gerard,
I Think that LifeSiteNews is way better than LifeNews, because it does not plagiarized unlike that selfish Steven Ertelt guy, also no words misspellings, and they have multiple journalist. They know not to put there own name in other people work. I am glad that you still write for LifeSiteNews!