Laura Hudson writes an article for Publisher’s Weekly. That exact same article pops up on the Around Comics site, credited to “The Evil Monkey Crew.”
UPDATE: Tom Katers of Around Comics responds in our comments section: I don’t post the news on the site but I can tell you it definitely wasn’t our intention to plagarize an article. Apologies for any sloppiness, and we ask for the all powerul internets forgiveness.
April 28th, 2007 at 1:54 am
I’d guess it’s more an oversight than intent to mislead; the Around Comics site posts a bunch of press releases, and that PW article could pretty easily be mistaken for one.
It may be worth noting that the byline “The Evil Monkey Crew” appears on *every* article posted there — I think it’s just the default account name they use for whatever software runs their site.
Has anybody actually alerted the Around Comics crew to this, or is standard operating procedure just to call them out on blogs?
April 28th, 2007 at 11:14 am
I actually looked around the Around Comics site for quite a while trying to find an e-mail contact for their webpage (as opposed to their show), and found none.
I think it’s quite likely that my article was mistaken for a press release, but I think it’s worth calling attention to this regardless. Not because it was malicious, but because it was careless, and someone should really be paying more attention.
I’m also left wondering how many times this has happened before. I’d hazard a guess that whatever lack of oversight allowed this to get through has probably allowed it more than once.
April 28th, 2007 at 11:22 am
It’s pretty easy to tell what’s a press release and what’s not on the PW site, because Publisher’s Weekly doesn’t run press releases in their comics newsletter, where this story originally ran. All of their stories are attributed to someone at the top of the page.
And most sites that run press releases usually mark them as “Press Release,” like the ‘rama home page does, or put them into a separate section, like CBR does, so that readers know where the information is coming from.
So even if it wasn’t malicious or intentional, it was sloppy.
I sent them an email via their “Contact Us” form, so hopefully they’ll correct the error.
April 28th, 2007 at 5:03 pm
Not so far.
I asked a similar question over at Laura’s actual blog, before I read the comments here. Duh.
Thanks for the headsup, JK. If it’s an honest mistake, I hope they quickly fix it. Or at the very least, stop using one ID for all postings. As you so aptly put it: “sloppy”.
April 29th, 2007 at 7:54 am
I think Laura is out of line here.
I agree with Steve that AC always publishes “news recaps” on their site of things that are announce. Heck, Laura states on her site that it is a “SHORT NEWS ARTICLE” not an Op-ED piece. I mean as many news articles that come out of Newsarama, how many people credit Matt Brady? Laura, when you write news articles for a “machine” for Publisher’s Weekly you are nothing more than a cog in that machine. You are REPORTING for others “to spread the word”.
Now the thing that really ticks me off is this. Laura’s blog is written at 9:38pm on a Friday night. This Newsarama blog entry is posted at 1:38 AM on a Saturday morning. It is a well known fact that in the world of journalism, if you want a news item to become “viral” you post it Friday after 5pm and watch it grow over a weekend. Reason being is people are away from their computers, TVs and newspapers for the weekend to “counter” any claim that is made against them.
I believe the this is an unfair attack on Around Comics.
Just my 2¢
Tim Rakarich
April 29th, 2007 at 9:10 am
Sorry about that.
I don’t post the news on the site but I can tell you it definitely wasn’t our intention to plagarize an article. Apologies for any sloppiness, and we ask for the all powerul internets forgiveness.
It will get fixed today.
April 29th, 2007 at 12:02 pm
Thanks, Tom. I appreciate that. I’ll bring the love on my blog.
And Tim–while I may be merely a “cog” in a “machine,” my writing is still my own, and should not be misappropriated. Your personal feelings about the value or nature of my writing are not really relevant. I wanted to draw attention to this because, as you so clearly confirm, people don’t know how to make the distinction between news articles and press releases, or worse, don’t even think they should. Thanks for illustrating my point so vividly.
Also, I assure you that my decision to post about this on Friday was not part of a Machiavellian scheme to burn Around Comics on the blogosphere. It was a result of being home on a Friday night googling myself, k? And while sad, that is hardly calculating.
April 29th, 2007 at 12:54 pm
Around Comics owns. They eat situations like this for dinner, wake up at 3 am, and vomit it all out.
If I ever move to chicago it will be because of them.
The real crime here is that someone couldn’t find anything better to do on a friday besides googling their name.
April 29th, 2007 at 1:03 pm
Thanks Thomas. I added your response to the post.
Mr. Rakarich, here’s another “well known fact” from the world of journalism — actually, anyone who has ever written a research paper or high school essay should know this as well — when you pull from someone else’s work, you attribute it. It doesn’t matter if the source is a New York Times reporter or a “cog;” passing off someone else’s work as your own is simply not cool.
Thomas said it was unintentional, and it sounds like the matter is settled. But saying Laura shouldn’t have any claim of authorship because it doesn’t meet your standards of importance is completely off base.
April 29th, 2007 at 3:27 pm
Personally, I’m just glad that MCD here managed to cut through the crap and pinpoint the “real crime.”
I’m a little confused by the vomiting analogy, though. Are you saying that Around Comics can’t stomach these kinds of situations? Are you secretly trying to undermine them?
I believe the this is an unfair attack on Around Comics.
Just my 2¢
April 29th, 2007 at 4:47 pm
I think Laura has every right to bring it up with us. Just because it was a mistake on our part doesn’t mean that we didn’t fuck up, or that we don’t have to correct it.
April 29th, 2007 at 4:53 pm
Here’s another two cents: Reprint an entire article from someone else’s website without permission violates their copyright, whether or not you give proper attribution. I know people do it all the time; don’t make me send my mom over to explain why it’s still not OK.
(Full disclosure: I freelance for PWCW as well.)
April 29th, 2007 at 5:59 pm
Reading my previous comment would lead someone to believe that I don’t speak english good…I should say just because we did it without malice doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t fix the problem.
April 29th, 2007 at 8:44 pm
Mr. Katers, in terms of responding to a concern, might I add you’ve handled this quite well–which speaks well of your site long-term, hopefully. Due to inflation and my own pomposity, I offer this as my nickel’s worth.
April 29th, 2007 at 10:16 pm
I take full responsibility for this mistake. It was sloppy on my part and completely wrong to do so. As soon as I was made aware of this, I changed it. I won’t hide away from this in any way, it was dumb.
I’ve also already commented on Laura Hudson’s blog with my apologies.
On a positive note,I hope my stupidity has at lease brought some additional attention to Publisher’s Weekly, Ms. Hudson’s fine work, and the Godland Hardcover.
April 30th, 2007 at 12:18 am
I agree with Brian on all points, particularly the ones where we shake hands and make friends and then everyone reads Godland. I went through the entire run before writing my article, and was pleasantly surprised. I’m not a big fan of space epics generally, but this one got me on board.