translated from Spanish: Columns by Javier Milei were identified with textual fragments of other authors and without reference to them

A publication made on the Platform Medium accuses the pre-candidate to national deputy for the City of Buenos Aires Javier Milei (La Libertad Avanza) of plagiarizing the work of different authors recognized in their columns published in the newspaper El Cronista and in the portal Infobae.Reverso independently verified the columns and also identified extracts of texts by other authors previously published in milei’s columns. In all cases the fragments in question are not enclosed in quotation marks. Most also make no reference, direct or indirect, to the original authors. The initial post was made by user “Marcus Tullius” and was shared primarily by Twitter and Reddit, according to data from the CrowdTangle tool. In addition, “Acusan a Javier Milei” and “Javier Milei” were Trending Topic -that is, one of the most talked about topics- on Twitter in Argentina.The columns questioned are 6, most published by El Cronista and one by Infobae, in 2016, 2017 and 2019. The authors whose work was not directly attributed are: Walter Block, Friedrich Hayek, Henry Hazlitt, Jesús Huerta de Soto, Ludwig von Mises and Murray N. Rothbard.This medium contacted Milei to know his position on the accusation, but at the time of publication of this note did not receive a response. In a message that is now available in the questioned publications of El Cronista, the economist indicated that these are “disclosure notes” in which “for practicality the citations are not usually made.” Thus, he acknowledged the fact in question, although he justified it. Among the columns, the first to be published – in April 2016, in Infobae – was entitled “Technology, employment and the Luddist fallacy”. There you can find paragraphs that coincide verbatim with the chapter “The hatred of the machine” of the book The economy in a lesson of Henry Hazlitt (1894-1993).

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Hazlitt

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Hazlitt

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HazlittFrom Infobae did not respond to the consultation of this medium and did not incorporate a clarification on their site. In another column published that same year, this time in The Chronicler, paragraphs are identified that coincide with the essay “The Atavism of Social Justice” by Friedrich Hayek (1899-1992). Here’s the original in English.

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Hayek

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HayekIn paragraphs prior to those cited, Milei mentions Hayek – “the market process, as Hayek pointed out, corresponds to the definition of gambling” – but in the rest of the text he does not attribute the textual quotations to that author. In the column “The punishment of the successful sinks us into poverty”, published in November 2016 in The Chronicler, parts of Ludwig von Mises’ Planning for Freedom (1881 -1973) are incorporated without reference to the author. Here in English.

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von Mises

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von MisesIn 2017, the pre-candidate for deputy published the column “In defense of the miser” in El Cronista. This text has broad similarities with the chapter “The Miser” of the book Defending the Indefensible by Walter Block (1941-). The Mises institute – which seeks to “promote teaching and research in the Austrian school of economics”, as it explains on its website – published an extract in Spanish and the complete book in English. The similarities begin from the first paragraph, when on all 2 occasions a Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens is mentioned, and are repeated throughout the column. We selected some, but linked to the 2 complete publications.

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Block 

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BlockUnos months later, Milei published the column titled “Venezuela: Another Victim of Socialism.” There, the blog post identified and Reverso verified that extracts from the book Socialism, Economic Calculation and Business Function by Jesús Huerta de Soto (1956 -), available on the author’s official website, coincide.

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Huerta de Soto

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Huerta de Soto Finally, in January 2019, El Cronista published the column “On the nature of the State” and identified Milei as its author. However, there are numerous coincidences with Chapter 3 of Egalitarianism as a Revolt against Nature and other essays by Murray Rothbard.

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Rothbard

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Rothbard

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RothbardConsulted by Reverse, Hernán de Goñi, journalistic director of El Cronista, said: “We assume that our columnists develop original content. At the same time, it seems healthy to us that the inclusion of outside opinions in their texts is identified. Our task, I repeat, is to disseminate those points of view that may be of interest to our audience. And, in defense of that interest, the newspaper will exercise the right to warn its readers about the aforementioned controversy, including also the author’s view on the subject.” This clarification, moreover, was incorporated into all the columns available on the newspaper’s website, accompanied by a disclaimer from Milei. The economist pointed out that “the notes in newspapers are disclosure notes linked to a topic of the situation, in which for practicality the appointments are not usually made.” For the notes in question I do not receive monetary compensation, so there is no profit in them either,” he added. Here you can read the full message. This note is part of Reverso, the collaborative journalistic project that unites more than 40 media to intensify the fight against disinformation during the 2021 elections.The contact ways to join are:by email to info@chequeado.com by WhatsAppy /ReversoAr in all networks—Author: Lucía MartínezEdition 1: Matías Di SantiEdition 2: Laura Zommer

Original source in Spanish