In my recent article "Death Threats for a Dutch MP" (November 29, 2004), I cited "a new survey by the respected newspaper Algemeen Dagblad." I believed the bullet points that followed were quoted directly from their Web site; however, I have since learned they were originally written by blogger Arjan Dasselaar on his Web site, Zacht Ei. I had seen the item on a third party's Web site, and this source mentioned neither Dasselaar nor the blog Zacht Ei; it presented the material as though it were a quotation from the newspaper. Thus, I was under the impression the quotations were taken directly from Algemeen Dagblad and did not cite Zacht Ei; I would not have hesitated to attribute the comments to Mr. Dasselaar had I known they were his. FrontPage Magazine has now corrected my honest mistake.
Although my article stated the poll statistics came from Algemeen Dagblad, I did not put the extract featured in my article in quotation marks, giving the impression that these comments were my own. This inadvertent oversight – for which I alone am responsible – failed to live up to the high journalistic standards I hold. As a professional journalist of 25 years' standing, I am well aware of the importance and morality of attribution.
I sincerely apologize to you, my readers, for this oversight. I also apologize to Arjan Dasselaar for reproducing his work without attribution, albeit unknowingly, as I was innocently unaware of its source. His prescient analysis of this poll deserved wide circulation, and it will now receive the credit it deserves.
Finally, I regret any embarrassment my actions have caused FrontPage Magazine. I hope all freedom-minded Web sites and bloggers will continue to work with FrontPage in its historic mission to safeguard the democratic West from the threat of Islamist persecution.