Nancy Nall Derringer

Nancy Nall Derringer is a blogger who uses Nancy Nall as a pen name.

Work history

Derringer is a blogger and former newspaper columnist. She was a columnist for the Fort Wayne News-Sentinel, popular for her "snarky" comments. She lost her job, as did many on the News-Sentinel staff, as the circulation of the newspaper dropped.

She currently lives in a Detroit suburb, where she edits GrossePointeToday.com and blogs at NancyNall.com. She is married to Alan Derringer, an editor at The Detroit News.

Goeglein plagiarism

On February 29, 2008, Derringer blogged her discovery that Tim Goeglein, Assistant to the President of the United States, had plagiarized a guest column in the Fort Wayne News-Sentinel. She had been intrigued by Tim's reference to “A notable professor of philosophy at Dartmouth College in the last century, Eugene Rosenstock-Hussey”. The name was not familiar to Derringer. "But this name was so goofy, just for the hell of it, I Googled it", she wrote - and she found a 1998 article by professor Jeffrey Hart in The Dartmouth Review almost identical to Goeglein's guest editorial appearing a decade later.[1]

Derringer notified Leo Morris, editorial page editor of the News-Sentinel, who checked other columns submitted by Goeglein.[2] Guest editorials in the News-Sentinel are neither assigned by the newspaper, nor are they paid for. Morris and others found at least 20 of the most recent 38 articles by Goeglein had plagiarism from the likes of Ben Stein and even the Pope.[3]

By late afternoon, Goeglein had resigned his $125,000 job.[4]

References

  1. Nancy Nall's blog: "Copycat"
  2. News-Sentinel "What was plagiarized".
  3. Nancy Nall's blog: "Notes From the Crater"
  4. Statement By the White House Press Secretary, February 29, 2008