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The Bulletin (alternative weekly)
Encyclopedia
The Montgomery County Bulletin or simply The Bulletin is a now defunct free alternative weekly
newspaper distributed in Montgomery County, Texas
; a suburban county north of Houston
. It claimed a circulation of 20,000 copies before being forced out of business in 2008 due to evidence of massive plagiarism
.
. In 1998, Mike Ladyman, former publisher of Wheels magazine (no relation to the Australian publication) bought the paper and turned it into an alternative weekly. He largely ran it as a mom-and-pop business, delivering the paper himself. He largely left the writing to Mark Williams, a freelance writer who was listed as a staff reporter and music editor.
In Ladyman's first year of ownership, the Bulletin received the "Most Improved Newspaper" award from the Texas Community Newspaper Association.
music critic Jody Rosen got word that a Williams piece about Jimmy Buffett
that appeared in the March 2008 Bulletin was almost a verbatim copy of a 2007 piece Rosen had written for Slate. Rosen did some digging on Google
, and discovered that all of Williams' articles dating back to at least 2005 had been copied wholesale from numerous sources. Williams appeared to have stolen work from diverse publications such as The Guardian
, salon.com
, NME
, Rolling Stone
and the Boston Globe. The Buffett article that triggered his initial inquiry, for instance, had been lifted from Rosen's 2007 piece and two other articles. He also found at that Williams had stolen at least one of his other articles for Slate.
Later, Rosen obtained a copy of the Bulletin's latest issue, and found that nearly every article in it appeared to have been plagiarized. Rosen suggested that "in purely statistical terms, [...] the articles in the Montgomery County Bulletin [may] amount to the greatest plagiarism scandal in the annals of American journalism".
After Rosen published his article on August 6, 2008; some observers suggested that Mark Williams was simply a nom de plume of Mike Ladyman, but in a Houston Press
interview Ladyman denied the charge and called Slate's piece “an attack, an attention-grabbing hatchet job”. He also complained of Rosen's attitude in the affair and claimed that he was not given sufficient time and details to react appropriately and diligently. “The mistake I made was not working fast enough for Jody Rosen and apparently I needed to be punished for it.” Ladyman announced the cessation of The Bulletins publication and blamed Williams for the plagiarism. Williams himself published a bitter and sarcastic open letter to Rosen in which he wrote, describing himself as the victim of the critic's quest for blogosphere
fame: "Of course, you are certainly owed an apology, but one has to ponder for a moment just why that is; after all, you have most definitely garnered the attention of the bloggers that you evidently crave in abundance with this manufactured scandal." Williams claimed that he had not intentionally plagiarized articles but had simply used press kit
material without realizing that they included work of other journalists: "I did so thinking it was cleared for such use; but, as [Rosen] so subtly pointed out, I was mistaken." In turn, Rosen contested the timeline presented by Ladyman and blamed him for shunning his responsibilities as the newspaper's editor.
The scandal also spawned discussion on the thin line which separates plagiarism from very commonplace news aggregation. In the conclusion of his piece, Rosen quipped "Mike Ladyman and company may simply be bringing guerrilla-style 21st-century content aggregation to 20th-century print media: publishing the Napster
of newspapers." Craig Silverman of Regret the Error described the Bulletin as "perhaps the first newspaper to pursue plagiarism as a standard operating procedure."
Rosen was a guest on NPR
's On the Media
on August 8, 2008. He suggested that the Bulletin really didn't need a Website because it was a free paper supported by advertising in the print edition. He thought that Williams' plagiarism probably would have gone unnoticed had not the paper's Website opened it up to being searched on Google.
Alternative weekly
An alternative newspaper is a type of newspaper, that eschews comprehensive coverage of general news in favor of stylized reporting, opinionated reviews and columns, investigations into edgy topics and magazine-style feature stories highlighting local people and culture. Their news coverage is more...
newspaper distributed in Montgomery County, Texas
Montgomery County, Texas
Montgomery County is a county located in the U.S. state of Texas within the Houston–Sugar Land–Baytown metropolitan area. The county was created by an act of the Congress of the Republic of Texas on December 14, 1837. The county was named for the town of Montgomery, Texas. In 2000, its...
; a suburban county north of Houston
Houston, Texas
Houston is the fourth-largest city in the United States, and the largest city in the state of Texas. According to the 2010 U.S. Census, the city had a population of 2.1 million people within an area of . Houston is the seat of Harris County and the economic center of , which is the ...
. It claimed a circulation of 20,000 copies before being forced out of business in 2008 due to evidence of massive 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...
.
History
The paper was founded in 1969 as a shopperPennysaver
A pennysaver A pennysaver A pennysaver (or free ads paper, Friday Ad (British English or shopper) is a kind of free community periodical available in North America (typically weekly or monthly publications) that advertises items for sale. Frequently pennysavers are actually called The Pennysaver...
. In 1998, Mike Ladyman, former publisher of Wheels magazine (no relation to the Australian publication) bought the paper and turned it into an alternative weekly. He largely ran it as a mom-and-pop business, delivering the paper himself. He largely left the writing to Mark Williams, a freelance writer who was listed as a staff reporter and music editor.
In Ladyman's first year of ownership, the Bulletin received the "Most Improved Newspaper" award from the Texas Community Newspaper Association.
Plagiarism scandal
In late July 2008, SlateSlate (magazine)
Slate is a US-based English language online current affairs and culture magazine created in 1996 by former New Republic editor Michael Kinsley, initially under the ownership of Microsoft as part of MSN. On 21 December 2004 it was purchased by the Washington Post Company...
music critic Jody Rosen got word that a Williams piece about Jimmy Buffett
Jimmy Buffett
James William "Jimmy" Buffett is a singer-songwriter, author, entrepreneur, and film producer. He is best known for his music, which often portrays an "island escapism" lifestyle. Together with his Coral Reefer Band, Buffett's musical hits include "Margaritaville" , and "Come Monday"...
that appeared in the March 2008 Bulletin was almost a verbatim copy of a 2007 piece Rosen had written for Slate. Rosen did some digging on Google
Google
Google Inc. is an American multinational public corporation invested in Internet search, cloud computing, and advertising technologies. Google hosts and develops a number of Internet-based services and products, and generates profit primarily from advertising through its AdWords program...
, and discovered that all of Williams' articles dating back to at least 2005 had been copied wholesale from numerous sources. Williams appeared to have stolen work from diverse publications such as The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
, salon.com
Salon.com
Salon.com, part of Salon Media Group , often just called Salon, is an online liberal magazine, with content updated each weekday. Salon was founded by David Talbot and launched on November 20, 1995. It was the internet's first online-only commercial publication. The magazine focuses on U.S...
, NME
NME
The New Musical Express is a popular music publication in the United Kingdom, published weekly since March 1952. It started as a music newspaper, and gradually moved toward a magazine format during the 1980s, changing from newsprint in 1998. It was the first British paper to include a singles...
, Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
and the Boston Globe. The Buffett article that triggered his initial inquiry, for instance, had been lifted from Rosen's 2007 piece and two other articles. He also found at that Williams had stolen at least one of his other articles for Slate.
Later, Rosen obtained a copy of the Bulletin's latest issue, and found that nearly every article in it appeared to have been plagiarized. Rosen suggested that "in purely statistical terms, [...] the articles in the Montgomery County Bulletin [may] amount to the greatest plagiarism scandal in the annals of American journalism".
After Rosen published his article on August 6, 2008; some observers suggested that Mark Williams was simply a nom de plume of Mike Ladyman, but in a Houston Press
Houston Press
The Houston Press is an alternative weekly newspaper published in Houston, Texas, United States. It is headquartered in Downtown Houston....
interview Ladyman denied the charge and called Slate's piece “an attack, an attention-grabbing hatchet job”. He also complained of Rosen's attitude in the affair and claimed that he was not given sufficient time and details to react appropriately and diligently. “The mistake I made was not working fast enough for Jody Rosen and apparently I needed to be punished for it.” Ladyman announced the cessation of The Bulletins publication and blamed Williams for the plagiarism. Williams himself published a bitter and sarcastic open letter to Rosen in which he wrote, describing himself as the victim of the critic's quest for blogosphere
Blogosphere
The blogosphere is made up of all blogs and their interconnections. The term implies that blogs exist together as a connected community or as a social network in which everyday authors can publish their opinions...
fame: "Of course, you are certainly owed an apology, but one has to ponder for a moment just why that is; after all, you have most definitely garnered the attention of the bloggers that you evidently crave in abundance with this manufactured scandal." Williams claimed that he had not intentionally plagiarized articles but had simply used press kit
Press kit
A press kit, often referred to as a media kit in business environments, is a pre-packaged set of promotional materials of a person, company, or organization distributed to members of the media for promotional use...
material without realizing that they included work of other journalists: "I did so thinking it was cleared for such use; but, as [Rosen] so subtly pointed out, I was mistaken." In turn, Rosen contested the timeline presented by Ladyman and blamed him for shunning his responsibilities as the newspaper's editor.
The scandal also spawned discussion on the thin line which separates plagiarism from very commonplace news aggregation. In the conclusion of his piece, Rosen quipped "Mike Ladyman and company may simply be bringing guerrilla-style 21st-century content aggregation to 20th-century print media: publishing the Napster
Napster
Napster is an online music store and a Best Buy company. It was originally founded as a pioneering peer-to-peer file sharing Internet service that emphasized sharing audio files that were typically digitally encoded music as MP3 format files...
of newspapers." Craig Silverman of Regret the Error described the Bulletin as "perhaps the first newspaper to pursue plagiarism as a standard operating procedure."
Rosen was a guest on NPR
NPR
NPR, formerly National Public Radio, is a privately and publicly funded non-profit membership media organization that serves as a national syndicator to a network of 900 public radio stations in the United States. NPR was created in 1970, following congressional passage of the Public Broadcasting...
's On the Media
On the Media
On the Media is an hour-long weekly radio program, hosted by Bob Garfield and Brooke Gladstone, covering journalism, technology, and First Amendment issues. It is produced by WNYC in New York City...
on August 8, 2008. He suggested that the Bulletin really didn't need a Website because it was a free paper supported by advertising in the print edition. He thought that Williams' plagiarism probably would have gone unnoticed had not the paper's Website opened it up to being searched on Google.
External links
- Website of The Bulletin (Archive)