David W. Richards
Encyclopedia
David Weston Richards is the CEO and Editorial Director of Australian technology publisher 4SquareMedia. He publishes Smarthouse, SmartHouse News, SmartOffice, and ChannelNews.
Previous career moves have involved creating a PR company, Weston Communications, as well as a publishing company DWR Communications, later sold to Penton Media
.
, Microsoft was having to rewrite "up to 60% of Vista's code". The original article has since been taken down by Richards. Blogger Robert Scoble called for Richards' sacking over the piece. Richards later admitted in an email published by MediaConnect proprietor Phil Sim that he had based the whole story on some comments by an Acer Australia Marketing Manager, Raymond Vardenega. Richards commented to Sim that "I don’t need a bunch of upstart bloggers to tell me how to write a story or how to stand a story up."
Richards has been accused of plagiarism
of other journalists' stories from a variety of sources ranging from newspapers and magazines to wire services and blogs. Journalist Jason Unger notes several instances where that Richards plagiarised Unger's work appearing in CE Pro magazine along with other article from CE Pro, TWICE (This Week In Consumer Electronics), Big Picture Big Sound, Residential Systems, Stereophile
, BusinessWeek
and even The Hollywood Reporter.
Richards was profiled by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation
Media Watch (TV program) on 3 March 2008, under accusation of plagiarism. The video is available for viewing on the ABC website. At first, Richards claimed that publishers had given his company permission to use the plagiarized content, but the ABC journalists discovered this was not true. "He has no current authorization from us to use any of our materials", one of the publishers stated. Several hours before the program went to air, Richards published a story claiming his website had been hacked, and the hacker had been posting stories under his name using plagiarized content in order to discredit him.
However, numerous content owners stated to Media Watch they had contacted Richards over the years to complain about unauthorized reproduction of their content on 4SquareMedia website, leading ABC Media Watch to awarded him the "Phantom of the Internet" trophy, a new award devised by the ABC for the most inventive excuse for plagiarism.
Richards was profiled by Media Watch again on 5 July 2010, citing reports that IDG was demanding 4Square Media take down content they believed was copied from the PC World website.
Previous career moves have involved creating a PR company, Weston Communications, as well as a publishing company DWR Communications, later sold to Penton Media
Penton Media
Penton Media, Inc., founded in 1892 by John Penton, is a diversified business-to-business media company. Penton Media is a mass media corporation that publishes and produces 113 magazines, 96 trade shows, 145 websites and has over six million subscribers across 17 different market segments.Numerous...
.
Controversies
In one of Richards' stories that received worldwide attention, he claimed that just months before the release of Windows VistaWindows Vista
Windows Vista is an operating system released in several variations developed by Microsoft for use on personal computers, including home and business desktops, laptops, tablet PCs, and media center PCs...
, Microsoft was having to rewrite "up to 60% of Vista's code". The original article has since been taken down by Richards. Blogger Robert Scoble called for Richards' sacking over the piece. Richards later admitted in an email published by MediaConnect proprietor Phil Sim that he had based the whole story on some comments by an Acer Australia Marketing Manager, Raymond Vardenega. Richards commented to Sim that "I don’t need a bunch of upstart bloggers to tell me how to write a story or how to stand a story up."
Richards has been accused of plagiarism
Plagiarism
Plagiarism is defined in dictionaries as the "wrongful appropriation," "close imitation," or "purloining and publication" of another author's "language, thoughts, ideas, or expressions," and the representation of them as one's own original work, but the notion remains problematic with nebulous...
of other journalists' stories from a variety of sources ranging from newspapers and magazines to wire services and blogs. Journalist Jason Unger notes several instances where that Richards plagiarised Unger's work appearing in CE Pro magazine along with other article from CE Pro, TWICE (This Week In Consumer Electronics), Big Picture Big Sound, Residential Systems, Stereophile
Stereophile
Stereophile is a monthly magazine that focuses on high end audio equipment, such as loudspeakers and amplifiers, and audio-related news, such as online audio streaming. It was founded in 1962 by J. Gordon Holt....
, BusinessWeek
BusinessWeek
Bloomberg Businessweek, commonly and formerly known as BusinessWeek, is a weekly business magazine published by Bloomberg L.P. It is currently headquartered in New York City.- History :...
and even The Hollywood Reporter.
Richards was profiled by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation
Australian Broadcasting Corporation
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation, commonly referred to as "the ABC" , is Australia's national public broadcaster...
Media Watch (TV program) on 3 March 2008, under accusation of plagiarism. The video is available for viewing on the ABC website. At first, Richards claimed that publishers had given his company permission to use the plagiarized content, but the ABC journalists discovered this was not true. "He has no current authorization from us to use any of our materials", one of the publishers stated. Several hours before the program went to air, Richards published a story claiming his website had been hacked, and the hacker had been posting stories under his name using plagiarized content in order to discredit him.
However, numerous content owners stated to Media Watch they had contacted Richards over the years to complain about unauthorized reproduction of their content on 4SquareMedia website, leading ABC Media Watch to awarded him the "Phantom of the Internet" trophy, a new award devised by the ABC for the most inventive excuse for plagiarism.
Richards was profiled by Media Watch again on 5 July 2010, citing reports that IDG was demanding 4Square Media take down content they believed was copied from the PC World website.