Status: 09.07.2021 2:10 p.m.
The politician and her publisher continue to oppose the accusation that the book by the Green Chancellor candidate Baerbock contains plagiarism. Nevertheless, future editions should contain a list of sources.
After allegations of plagiarism, the Chancellor candidate of the Greens, Annalena Baerbock, and her publisher are drawing conclusions and want to provide sources for future editions of the politician’s book. First the “Bild” reported about it, later the spokeswoman for the Ullstein publishing house, Christine Heinrich, confirmed the plans.
The edition of “Now. How we renew our country” as an e-book should therefore be provided with the source references as soon as possible. Heinrich emphasized that such a procedure basically corresponds to the standards for subsequent editions and is carried out for reasons of transparency. The publisher’s spokeswoman again opposed the plagiarism allegations by speaking of a “legally permissible takeover of passages from public domains” in Baerbock’s book.
Allegation of copyright infringement
The chancellor candidate’s book appeared on the market around two and a half weeks ago. In it, Baerbock elaborates on the political concepts of her party and connects them with personal experiences.
Just a few days after the publication, the Austrian media scientist Stefan Weber raised serious allegations against Baerbock as an author. Baerbock copied formulations and passages in her book, which, from Weber’s point of view, amounts to a copyright infringement.
But Baerbock’s book is not an academic treatise. It is therefore not subject to the same strict requirements of scientific work. Footnotes, for example, are not requirements. But Weber criticized that text plagiarism was “ethically incorrect” and that it was also rightly criticized in previously published non-fiction books.
Support from the publisher and the Greens
Baerbock rejected the allegations and received support from Ullstein-Verlag, who had brought her book onto the market. In an interview with the “Süddeutsche Zeitung”, she repeated on Thursday that she had resorted to publicly available sources. But she also admitted that in retrospect it would have been better to work with a source directory.
The Greens had reacted to Weber’s accusations with much more violent criticism and even spoke of attempted “character assassination”. The allegations are absurd and the media scientist is consciously trying to damage Baerbock’s reputation.