The key issue he has is with accusations of plagiarism, which he says was perpetrated by another journalist while he was on vacation (ie someone else published plagiarized articles under his byline while he was on leave) and that Littlemore based his entire (very nasty) piece on information provided by one person.

I do not have a recording of the show in question, but Littlemore’s pieces were built on pieces taken from the public record — he would simply show articles, with portions highlighted, on screen. In this case they showed pieces in the SMH with Powell’s byline juxtaposed with earlier articles published under other bylines. It was, apparently cut and dried.

I don’t know how newspapers work. Powell’s version seems plausible — except that as I recall he left the SMH the next day.

In essence, however, the thrust is that Powell’s articles, with the exception of those posted in his absence, were his own. So, from my point of view, an idiot but not a plagiarist.

He was dead on about the name, though.