It has emerged that disgraced Johann Hari has not returned the £2,000 he won as part of his Orwell Prize.
The award itself was returned by Hari though it was due to be taken from him anyway. However, he is clinging onto the cash prize according to organisers of the prestigious journalism award. They have issued a press release, from which we have learned:
Hari was definitely set to be stripped of the award:
"The Council of the Orwell Prize would like to clarify ... the Orwell Prize for Journalism 2008 would have been vacated in any case."
The Independent did not co-operate with the Orwell Prize investigation:
"On 30 June 2011 the Council said that it would be investigating the basis for allegations made about Hari's work. This included writing to Johann Hari and to the (then) editor of The Independent, with a number of questions. Hari responded; the editor did not, either to this or a subsequent set of queries."
Hari was a guilty of plagiarism in their eyes:
"The Council considered one article submitted by Hari in 2008, 'How multiculturalism is betraying women' ...The Council concluded that the article contained inaccuracies and conflated different parts of someone else's story ...The Council ruled that the substantial use of unattributed and unacknowledged material did not meet the standards expected of Orwell Prize-winning journalism."
Hari returned the award but kept the cash:
"On the afternoon of 14 September, a courier returned the plaque which had been awarded to Johann Hari on winning the Orwell Prize for Journalism 2008. There was no note of explanation. The prize money (£2,000) has also not been returned."
Hari's dishonesty has held back more deserving journalists:
"The Council of the Orwell Prize ..have decided not to re-award the 2008 Prize, despite the high quality journalism on that year's shortlist. The Council would like to apologise to those who entered the Journalism Prize 2008."
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