Columnist Fends Off Demands for Resignation

Boston Globe columnist Mike Barnicle on Tuesday successfully fended off demands from the newspaper that he resign for lifting jokes from a George Carlin book, but he was suspended instead for two months without pay.

Editor Matthew V. Storin, who sought Barnicle’s resignation last week, said he came to realize that the pugnacious, 25-year columnist deserved a second chance.

“Frankly, I am persuaded by the argument that the punishment doesn’t fit the crime,” Storin said.

Motorists honked horns and held up thumbs as they passed Barnicle at a news conference outside the Globe offices.

The dispute began when the Boston Herald reported Aug. 5 about similarities between jokes in Barnicle’s Aug. 2 column and Carlin’s book “Brain Droppings.” Barnicle said the jokes were given to him by two friends and that he had not even read the book.

The Globe suspended Barnicle for a month without pay the same day as the Herald report, but Storin demanded his resignation later in the day after learning that Barnicle had recommended the Carlin book on television in June.

Barnicle, 54, said Tuesday: “I apologized to Matt, to the publisher . . . for putting the newspaper in this terribly awkward position due to my own personal sloppiness.”

When Barnicle returns from his suspension, editors will work more closely with him, Storin said. Storin also said Barnicle will reduce his outside work.

In refusing to resign, Barnicle said his transgression was perhaps lazy and stupid but not akin to what fellow Globe columnist Patricia Smith did. She was forced to resign earlier this year after she was found to have made up characters and quotes.