Wednesday, May 07, 2008

O, The Oprah Magazine Rips Off My Blog. No, Really!

I was sitting at work today minding my own business, being as ultra-productive as usual when I got an email from a good friend from my old department. He was checking out CNN.com and came across a story that seemed somewhat familiar:
http://www.cnn.com/2008/LIVING/personal/05/06/o.tinkler/index.html

It seems someone named Lisa Kogan wrote an article that appeared in the April edition of O, The Oprah Magazine that wasn't very original. The article she wrote bears a striking resemblance to my "Mad Duker" post from February. However, don't take my word for it, judge for yourself:

The Kogan piece as it appears on the O: The Oprah Magazine website (appearing in the April issue): http://www.oprah.com/omagazine/200804/omag_200804_kogan.jhtml

My post "Profile of a Workplace Bio-Terrorist (posted in February, mind you!):
http://1manview.blogspot.com/2008/02/profile-of-workplace-bio-terrorist.html

So, what do you think? I am asking everyone who reads both articles to post their thoughts here, as well as sharing them with CNN.com, O, The Oprah Magazine and hopefully Ms. Kogan herself. I don't have any delusions of grandeur here. I also don't think I can sue. However, some acknowledgement for borrowing from my work would have been nice. I am torn between whether I should feel honored that someone whose work is featured in national media reads my blog, or if I should be angry. I mean, she even used the same structure as my post! There is NO way this is mere coincidence.

I posted a comment to the magazine using the link in the previous paragraph stating this:

This is not a question. In your April '08 issue, an article by Lisa Kogan was published which I believe borrowed heavily from a blog I wrote and posted in February: (http://1manview.blogspot.com/2008/02/profile-of-workplace-bio-terrorist.html). I found Ms. Kogan's article after a workplace friend emailed me a link to the CNN.com re-run of her article on 5/6/08. While I know I have no legal recourse, I thought you should know that Ms. Kogan might not be the original thinker you have previously thought she was. I ask humbly that you read my post (link above) from February and draw your own conclusions.Thank you and best regards

So, I ask you, if you agree with me that El Bloggo Fantastico has been liberally "borrowed" from in this instance, PLEASE visit the link to the Oprah Mag site and post your comments, visit CNN.com and make your voice heard. And, if you think this is all in my head, please post that here as well. I really want to know what everybody thinks about this. When posting your comments, make sure you let me know who you are. Log in or put your first name at the end of your comment. Thanks!

8 Comments:

At 4:46 PM, May 10, 2008, Blogger Unknown said...

I just left a comment. How ridiculous. Journalists should know better. Yours was funnier.

 
At 5:11 PM, May 10, 2008, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I posted a comment to the Oprah site. That's crazy! Too similar to be a coincidence. Hope you get the credit you deserve!

 
At 6:49 PM, May 10, 2008, Blogger outpatient8 said...

1. Holy Plagiarism Batman!
2. You are funnier.
3. Lets expose her for the lame-ass she is.

 
At 2:35 PM, May 13, 2008, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Perhaps you should start to copyright your blog :o). The articles are pretty similar. Both are pretty funny and well written I might add.

Doug

 
At 10:13 AM, May 19, 2008, Blogger Unknown said...

Ridiculous! Call her out!

 
At 4:22 PM, May 23, 2008, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I can't find any comment on the Oprah website about your blog! I think they have removed all of them!

 
At 11:18 PM, June 06, 2008, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hey Vince,

Yes, there are definitely pretty clear similarities between the two stories, though I didn't read them too closely yet, as I've still been kind of tired from the events of this week. Speaking of which, I wrote briefly about this week over at my website.

Nice meeting you, by the way...

Rich
(#26/#10)

 
At 12:18 PM, November 14, 2009, Anonymous Teri said...

You could always write to Oprah.. Ellen did it and winded up on the cover....then again, Ellen is in the same industry so that may have had something to do with it.

Still, never hurts to try..spread the word, get it out to anyone who will listen.. :)

Good Luck.

 

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