World | Australia
Lonely Planet denies author's faking claim
Lonely Planet said yesterday it stands by the accuracy of its travel guides following reports that one of its authors claimed he plagiarised and invented sections of the books.
- AP
- Published: 23:58 April 14, 2008
Sydney: Lonely Planet said yesterday it stands by the accuracy of its travel guides following reports that one of its authors claimed he plagiarised and invented sections of the books.
Australia's Herald Sun and Sunday Telegraph reported that author Thomas Kohnstamm claimed he made up parts of the books he wrote, lifted information from other publications and accepted gifts in contravention of Lonely Planet's policies.
But Kohnstamm later said that his remarks were "taken out of context."
"I did not make up sections. I did not plagiarise," said Kohnstamm, who lives in Seattle.
Lonely Planet is reviewing the books that Kohnstamm contributed to but has so far found nothing inaccurate, said publisher Piers Pickard. He said Lonely Planet's reputation was built on the integrity of its books and any inaccuracies would be quickly fixed.
Kohnstamm said that while he had accepted perks such as discounted hotel rooms and free meals, he "never traded positive editorial coverage for any sort of a freebie." The newspapers also reported that Kohnstamm said he did not visit one of the countries he wrote about.
"They didn't pay me enough to go to Colombia," Kohnstamm said. "I wrote the book in San Francisco. I got the information from a chick I was dating who was an intern in the Colombian consulate."
"Disingenuous"
Pickard called that claim "disingenuous" because he was hired to write about the country's history, not to travel there to review accommodation and restaurants. That work was done by two other authors.
"Thomas's claims are not an accurate reflection of how our authors work," Pickard said.
Kohnstamm agreed. "It was expected I would never go to Colombia for the purposes of the guide book," he said.
His point, he said, was that to adequately cover an entire country, "it is necessary to piece together second hand information about things you are not able to see yourself." He added that few travel writers are able to visit all of the places they are expected to write about.
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