Get ready for an all-time low in the freelance world.
Blogger Monica Gaudio wrote an an article in 2005 for the Gode Cookery website, called "A Tale of Two Tarts."
The article was so good that Cook's Source magazine, a small, free Western New England magazine picked it up, did a bit of editing and retitled the piece to "As American as Apple Pie — Isn't!
The problem is that the magazine lifted the piece without Gaudio's permission.
When Gaudio asked for compensation — a public apology and a $130 donation to the Columbia School of Journalism — the editor responded:
- The Web is considered "public domain" and [Gaudio] should be happy [Cook's Source] didn't just "lift" [her] whole article and put someone else's name on it
- Such "lifting" of articles, aka plagiarism "happens a lot, clearly more than [Gaudio] is aware of, especially on college campuses and in the workplace
- The article was "in very bad need of editing" and the magazine put time into rewriting it so Gaudio "should compensate [the magazine]!"
- Now that the article has been re-written, it will work well in Gaudio's portfolio!
Needless to say Cook's Source is getting a lot of heat on its Facebook page. Most are unprintable in a respectable place such as this but these two below give a sense of the outrage people are feeling over the issue.
Joni Hubred-Golden: Cost of an apology: $0. Cost of a donation to a charitable cause to make this all go away: $130. Cost to your reputation for stealing someone else's work and then behaving like an ass toward them: Priceless.
Jaason Liin: they say "all publicity is good publicity", but I don't see how this is going to help Cooks Source. Seriously though, how many people are going to be stealing or defacing your magazine in the stores? What respectable bookseller will want to carry your mag after this?
Many thanks to PC World for pointing this out: Magazine Lifts Blogger's Article, Tells Her to Be Grateful for the Edit