We could argue about what’s worse, but as John R. Edlund of CSU Pomona, an English professor who writes about plagiarism, told the Atlantic Wire, “I think Mr. Lehrer’s current offenses are more about fraud than plagiarism, although he was accused of self-plagiarism in the past. He is now accused of fabricating quotations to fit his analysis. If he were writing a historical novel based on actual people, but fictionalized and marketed as fiction, this would be O.K. However, he sold this book as non-fiction. He can interpret what Dylan said all he wants, but he should be interpreting Dylan’s own words as stated in clearly documented sources.”
As for the speed with which he was busted, maybe it’s simply easier in these Internet days, where facts that are questionable can be called out and easily checked, where deja-vu-causing paragraphs can be plugged into Google search engines and confirmed as actual repeats. But also, everyone’s looking for a scoop, and this sort of news is news that any hard-working writer with the drive to find it probably has the access to uncover.