But honestly Monica

Nov 06, 2010- Permalink

There’s a giant meme flashing around the internet right now. It’s even got its own Twitter hashtag: #buthonestlymonica

In a nutshell, writer Monica Gaudio discovered that an article she had written about apple pie had been published in a print magazine called Cooks Source. She had not been paid, nor had she given her permission for the article to be published by them.

She started an email exchange with the mag’s editor, Judith Griggs, and when asked what she wanted, Monica asked for a printed apology and a $130 donation to be made to the Columbia School of Journalism. Grigg’s reply showed a draw-droppingly ignorant point of view for someone in the publishing world. Griggs said:

…Honestly Monica, the web is considered “public domain” and you should be happy we just didn’t “lift” your whole article and put someone else’s name on it! It happens a lot, clearly more than you are aware of, especially on college campuses, and the workplace. If you took offence and are unhappy, I am sorry, but you as a professional should know that the article we used written by you was in very bad need of editing, and is much better now than was originally. Now it will work well for your portfolio. For that reason, I have a bit of a difficult time with your requests for monetary gain, albeit for such a fine (and very wealthy!) institution. We put some time into rewrites, you should compensate me! I never charge young writers for advice or rewriting poorly written pieces, and have many who write for me… ALWAYS for free!”

Wow. The web went nuts. People began digging around and discovered evidence that articles on the site may have been taken from NPR, The Food Network, Paula Deen, Disney and a whole host of others whose legal pockets are quite deep. The blog How Publishing Really Works has an excellent post detailing the whole Monica Gaudio/Judith Griggs debacle.

And not wanting to let a good meme pass, we present our new T-Shirt: Dear Judith Griggs: My ass may not be public domain but you can still kiss it!