Columnist Punished for Lifting Jokes

Less than two months after a columnist resigned from the Boston Globe for fabricating material, Globe columnist Mike Barnicle has been suspended for one month without pay for using jokes lifted from comedian George Carlin. Barnicle said he got the material from a friend, not knowing it came from a book by Carlin titled “Brain Droppings.” But on a television program, Barnicle referred to the book in a segment of short reviews, saying there was “a yuck on every page,” according to Susan Sloane, managing editor for the program.