Breaking: Ben Domenech resigns from Washington Post

I just heard this on Al Franken's show. I can't wait to hear the WaPo's explanation for how Domenech was hired in the first place, considering how little time it took for the blogs to expose their newest hire as a complete fraud.

UPDATE: The link above is to the response by the website's Executive Editor.

When we hired Domenech, we were not aware of any allegations that he had plagiarized any of his past writings. In any cases where allegations such as these are made, we will continue to investigate those charges thoroughly in order to maintain our journalistic integrity.

Plagiarism is perhaps the most serious offense that a writer can commit or be accused of. Washingtonpost.com will do everything in its power to verify that its news and opinion content is sourced completely and accurately at all times.

We appreciate the speed and thoroughness with which our readers and media outlets surfaced these allegations. Despite the turn this has taken, we believe this event, among other things, testifies to the positive and powerful role that the Internet can play in the the practice of journalism.

Strange, considering the WaPo's blistering attacks on blogs just a couple of months ago when bloggers pointed out some dubious statements by the staff, which resulted in the site doing away with reader comments. Not to mention a committment to accuracy that was shown up within hours by amateurs armed only with a keyboard.