Will Johann Hari Lose His Snotty Orwell Prize Ranking For Arty Politics?
INDEPENDENT columnist Johann Hari confesses to passing of quotes gathered elsewhere as his own work. Will such creativity casue him to lose his ranking in the Orwell Prize for top journalism?
Maybe.
Something called The Council of the Orwell Prize – is that itself Orwellian? – has issued a statement:
The Council of the Orwell Prize met on Thursday 21st July to consider Johann Hari’s 2008 submission for the journalism prize.
After extensive deliberation, the Council arrived at a clear and unanimous decision, which drew from the combined journalistic and academic expertise of its members.
And that decision is…?
The Independent has now requested that the Council consider further representations by Johann Hari before announcing the decision. However, it would appear that Johann Hari is not permitted to make any further representations whilst TheIndependent’s investigation is conducted.
In these circumstances, the Council of the Orwell Prize has reluctantly consented to delay any formal announcement as to the status of the 2008 Orwell Prize for Journalism until The Independent has completed its own investigation. We will take no further action and make no further statements until that time.
How very snotty.
What is the prize?
The Orwell Prize is Britain’s most prestigious prize for political writing. Every year, we award prizes for the work – the book, the journalism and (since 2009) the blog – which comes closest to George Orwell’s ambition ‘to make political writing into an art’
What it is to be self-important, eh, readers…
Posted: 25th, July 2011 | In: Reviews Comment | TrackBack | Permalink
