Cooks Source Plagiarism Case

Most people would say that plagiarism is wrong. Stealing someones words without paying for them is just bad form and downright illegal.

Last week Monica Gaudio wrote an entry in her blog http://illadore.livejournal.com/30674.html where she detailed finding an article she wrote five years ago on a website for a magazine based in Western Mass called Cooks Source. Now the funny thing was, Monica never sold that article to Cooks Source. She contacted the magazine to try and clear up the misunderstanding. Eventually, Gaudio asked for 10 cents a word to be paid to the Columbia School of Journalism which would amount to $130. The editor, Judith Griggs, decided to jump right into the fire with a bucketful of gasoline. She wrote her back and said, "...But honestly Monica, the web is considered 'public domain' and you should be happy we just didn't 'lift' your whole article and put someone else's name on it!" In an email rife with poor grammar and misspellings, she pointed out that Monica should pay Cook Source for all editing done to the article.

When the blog post hit the web, the controversy took the form of a small scale nuclear explosion. Bloggers, Facebook friends, columnists, practically everyone lined up to give it to Judith Griggs and Cooks Source. When people looked closer it became clear the magazine had not only lifted Monica's article, but photographs, at least seven Food Network recipes and two blog entries, recipes and articles from the likes of Martha Stewart and Paula Deen in addition to many others. Many people compiled examples of content that was lifted. http://www.facebook.com/topic.php?uid=196994196748&topic=23238 Advertiser deserted the magazine as fast as their high speed connections could carry their email.

Yesterday Cooks Source issued an apology. Saying it was a result of a "small overworked staff," the magazine will work harder to make sure it has the permission of the content creators before publishing. they say their Facebook page was "hacked." http://www.cookssource.com/

It was a classic example of both the best and the worst of the web. On one hand you had people who recklessly stole others work, but you also had crowd sourcing of stolen content and support for the victim of the crime.

One thing is for sure, Judith Griggs won't be answering her email quite as snarkily as before.

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• cooks source
• plagiarism

[MrKrushton08]

No offence, but that was a horrible interview, off the top of my head I know more about this story, and the way it was presented here would leave most people confused and uninterested.

[ctnow]

@MrKrushton08

No offense taken.

Doug

[jdvideo123]

@ctnow Any plans on an update?

[ctnow]

@jdvideo123 It was another story I was going to talk about but I ran out of time.