Conservative blogger quits amid plagiarism flap

A new conservative blogger for washingtonpost.com resigned Friday, a day after allegations surfaced that he had plagiarized movie reviews as a journalist in college.

Ben Domenech, 24, had just started writing a daily Web log when another online publication, Salon.com, made the allegations.

"In the past 24 hours, we learned of allegations that Ben Domenech plagiarized material that appeared under his byline in various publications prior to washingtonpost.com contracting with him to write a blog that launched Tuesday," said Jim Brady, executive editor of the Washington blog.

"An investigation into these allegations was ongoing, and in the interim, Domenech has resigned, effective immediately," Brady said in a statement posted on the newspaper's Web site.

Brady said washingtonpost.com was unaware of the allegations when it hired Domenech to write for the blog, Red America.

Salon.com accused Domenech of using material by its writers without attribution while he was a student columnist at the College of William & Mary. Efforts to reach Domenech Friday were unsuccessful.

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It is the second time this year that washingtonpost.com has had issues with bloggers.

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In January, the Web site shut down a blog after readers posted personal attacks against the Washington Post's ombudsman. That blog was later restored.

Domenech attended William & Mary, but he did not earn a degree, college spokesman William Walker said. Domenech left school and landed a job as a speechwriter for Tommy Thompson, the former secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, in 2002.

Domenech is best known as founder of RedState.com, a conservative blog.