30 Facts About Johann Hari

Johann Eduard Hari was born on 21 January 1979 and is a British writer and journalist.

Until 2011, Hari wrote for The Independent, among other outlets, before resigning after admitting to plagiarism and fabrications dating from 2001 to 2011.

Johann Hari was born in Glasgow, Scotland, to a Scottish mother and Swiss father, before his family relocated to London when he was an infant.

Johann Hari attended the John Lyon School, an independent school affiliated with Harrow, and then Woodhouse College, a state sixth form in Finchley.

Johann Hari graduated from King's College, Cambridge, in 2001 with a double first in social and political sciences.

In 2000, Johann Hari was joint winner of The Times Student News Journalist of the Year award for his work on the Cambridge student newspaper, Varsity.

Johann Hari appeared regularly as an arts critic on the BBC Two programme The Review Show and was a book critic for Slate.

Johann Hari initially denied any wrongdoing, stating that the unattributed quotes were for clarification and did not present someone else's thoughts as his own.

Johann Hari later admitted that his behaviour was "completely wrong" and that "when I interviewed people, I often presented things that had been said to other journalists or had been written in books as if they had been said to me, which was not truthful".

Johann Hari was suspended for two months from The Independent and in January 2012 it was announced that he was leaving the newspaper.

Johann Hari has been accused of misrepresenting writing by George Galloway, Eric Hobsbawm, Nick Cohen and Noam Chomsky.

In September 2011, Johann Hari admitted that he had edited articles on Wikipedia about himself and journalists with whom he had had disputes.

Johann Hari used the fake identity "David Rose" to pretend to be an editor who was qualified in environmental science.

Johann Hari used threats of suing for libel to prevent critics revealing his misrepresentations.

Johann Hari used libel law against a blogger who wrote that "a reputation for making things up should spell career death", leading to the blogger removing the post in question.

Johann Hari argues that prohibition, drug laws, and the persecution of people who use drugs collectively do more harm to people and society than the drugs themselves.

Johann Hari cites his own childhood issues, career challenges, and experiences with antidepressants and psychotherapy as the motivation for writing the book.

Johann Hari emphasises that someone who is taking anti-depressant medications should not stop taking them without first seeking professional advice.

Johann Hari identifies twelve factors which he says contribute to an "attention crisis".

Johann Hari suggests that late-stage capitalism's emphasis on profits over human well-being is partly to blame.

Johann Hari criticizes the tech industry for designing products that exploit people to maximize engagement.

Johann Hari calls for collective action and suggests a focus on societal changes, rather than personal action.

Karlin Lillington, writing for the Irish Times, praised Stolen Focus for being a more accessible companion to Shoshana Zuboff's work on surveillance capitalism, but says Johann Hari sometimes goes too far in reducing complex topics to bullet points.

The writer Matthew Sweet investigated some of the statements in the book and found that Johann Hari had failed to cite the primary sources for some studies, and misrepresented the results of studies that suggested multitasking could have benefits in certain conditions.

An author of one of the papers Johann Hari cited intervened to state that he was "not happy with misrepresentation of our results".

Johann Hari responded by saying he had described the studies in question accurately.

Johann Hari delivered a presentation based on Chasing the Scream at the 2015 TED Conference, and his TED talk was curated on the organization's official website as one of the most-watched of the year.

Johann Hari is listed as a producer and writer on the 2021 film The United States vs Billie Holiday, which was nominated for an Academy Award, two Golden Globes, and multiple other awards.

Johann Hari was an executive producer on the 2022 eight-part documentary television series The Fix, narrated by Samuel L Jackson.

Johann Hari is working on a biography of American linguist and intellectual Noam Chomsky, which Johann Hari describes on his Patreon account as of April 2025 as being written with the cooperation of his the subject.