Bad journalist gets blocked by ISP after plagiarizing

November 1, 2006 By

It’s amazing what my readers remember and go back and follow up on.

Stef Wisniewski posted a comment on a post I made back in March. One where I took on a journalist about bad reporting. Well, he followed up and found out that the “journalist” in question, David Richards, allegedly stole content from the Big Picture Big Sound Website.

My earlier problem with him was when he wrote an article about Windows Vista with a headline claiming that 60% of Vista would be rewritten after the publishing of the article. That was complete hogwash. Vista is pretty darn close to shipping and there was no way that it was 60% (or even 1%) rewritten between March and now.

When you learn a publication is willing to report totally made up crap and stand by it then you shouldn’t be surprised when other sleazy stuff happens too.

More details and real journalism being done by citizens over in the Whirlpool Forums.

Thanks Stef. Australia deserves a better journalist than this guy (what’s laughable is he’s CEO of a magazine. Sigh).

Filed Under: 1
  • Diego

    Seems like Australian journalists are having a bad run.

    http://www.crunchnotes.com/?p=300

  • Diego

    Seems like Australian journalists are having a bad run.

    http://www.crunchnotes.com/?p=300

  • Hap

    Sorry, Robert, but I can’t see any ref in your article (or any of its linked stories) to a ‘bad journalist’ who has ow been ‘fired after plagiarizing’… did I miss something?

  • Hap

    Sorry, Robert, but I can’t see any ref in your article (or any of its linked stories) to a ‘bad journalist’ who has ow been ‘fired after plagiarizing’… did I miss something?

  • http://scobleizer.wordpress.com/ Robert Scoble

    Hap: he wasn’t fired. His ISP turned him off for a week. He’s CEO, so getting him fired isn’t like if he were a lowly reporter. See Stef’s post for more.

  • http://scobleizer.wordpress.com/ Robert Scoble

    Hap: he wasn’t fired. His ISP turned him off for a week. He’s CEO, so getting him fired isn’t like if he were a lowly reporter. See Stef’s post for more.

  • Hap

    So why does your heading say he got fired?

  • Hap

    So why does your heading say he got fired?

  • http://scobleizer.wordpress.com/ Robert Scoble

    Cause I screwed up. I was thinking he SHOULD be fired and my fingers didn’t get the correct message.

  • http://scobleizer.wordpress.com/ Robert Scoble

    Cause I screwed up. I was thinking he SHOULD be fired and my fingers didn’t get the correct message.

  • Hap

    If only your fingers had so much power to wield with a mere wiggle! There are many in the Australian techcommunity who would like to see David Richards go DOWN, big time. His publishing company has the highest staff turnover in the local industry (nobody cares to be around for his tirades of abuse, questionable ethics and self-serving behaviour)!

  • Hap

    If only your fingers had so much power to wield with a mere wiggle! There are many in the Australian techcommunity who would like to see David Richards go DOWN, big time. His publishing company has the highest staff turnover in the local industry (nobody cares to be around for his tirades of abuse, questionable ethics and self-serving behaviour)!

  • STEF WISNIEWSKI

    Hey Rob check this out

    As they say – Every dog has his day – and David Richards appears to be having his (at last) : This appeared on MediaWatch, nationwide across Australia last night and is compulsory viewing:
    http://www.abc.net.au/mediawatch/transcripts/s2178689.htm
    The video is online at http://www.abc.net.au/mediawatch/vodcast/ Episode 03
    “Phantom of the internet”

  • STEF WISNIEWSKI

    Hey Rob check this out

    As they say – Every dog has his day – and David Richards appears to be having his (at last) : This appeared on MediaWatch, nationwide across Australia last night and is compulsory viewing:
    http://www.abc.net.au/mediawatch/transcripts/s2178689.htm
    The video is online at http://www.abc.net.au/mediawatch/vodcast/ Episode 03
    “Phantom of the internet”