Walton & Johnson Don’t Care If They Plagiarize Bloggers

The Whistler • April 1, 2008

Earlier today I posted about syndicated talk radio show Walton & Johnson swiping a Say Anything post written by Pilgrim and both reading it on their show and posting the entire thing, with a scant few modifications, on their website.
That prompted a Say Anything reader to email the show (we emailed them too but haven’t received a response), and this is what that reader got in response:

John Walton
It actually came as letter from a listener….if he got it somewhere else he didn’t say…but he is a regular contributor….PS…we don’t give a shit if
you come back…this site is for our radio show fans and most content comes from the fans…we don’t generate the site for webheads who waste the hours of their lives writing blogs that nobody reads. Goodbye and good “blogging”

Nobody reads? Apparently Walton & Johnson listeners are reading blogs…and sending in posts they like. Also, Say Anything has a daily readership – between direct visits to this site and syndication to news sites like Reuters and USA Today across the internet – in the tens of thousands. We aren’t poised to bring the media world to its knees any time soon, but tens of thousands of readers is nothing to sneeze at either.
Anyway, I wonder how Mr. Walton and Mr. Johnson would like it if I recorded their shows off the radio and posted them here in their entirety for everyone to listen to without paying for it as they request on their website? Heck, why even put in a link to where the audio comes from? Obviously Mr. Walton and Mr. Johnson don’t care, so why should we?
Again, it’s great that Walton & Johnson liked Pilgrim’s post so much they read it on the air and re-posted it on their site. But it’s flat-out plagiarism to represent someone else’s content as your own (you’ll note the Walton & Johnson reproduction of Pilgrim’s post has nothing to indicate that it was written by anyone other than the authors of their website).
And to blow off polite attempts to correct that wrong is just plain arrogant.

Tags: Asshats, Media, Politics

http://dougeefargo.blogspot.com/ dougee

Rob, I totally agree. I can tell you for a fact that there are at least some candidates here in ND that will read the blog to see what you have to say about issues in the state. And one is someone who just got a brand new nomination under his belt and has the CRs fully behind him.
http://www.wethepeopleforum.com/forum/forums.asp golfmann

They’re caught dead to rights and that’s enough to never have me as a listener. All they needed was a stupid link, but no!!!!!!

And I’m sure I’m not alone.
Bat One

I don’t see any reason to believe Walton’s fable about a listener sending in Pilgrim’s post. A man who would take credit for the work of another by posting it, unattributed, on his website is certainly just as likely to lie about it to cover his sorry ass!
http://www.thedailyslant.com/ Hairy Polemic

Dear Mr. X,

Take notice. Your posting on X addressed at X is in direct violation of Section 106 of the US Copyright Act. We ask that you either take down the posting or properly attribute it to its author X, otherwise, further action will be taken in accordance with 17 USC 501. This is your 10 day notice.

(mention the e-mails as proof somewhere in the notice)

—–
Something along those lines.

Pilgrim would have to send that notice himself unless one of you is admitted to the Bar somewhere.
Paul

Walton and Johnson seem to be falling behind the times. Radio is losing listeners fast. While there is still an audience, radio listeners are falling. Why listen to radio crowded with commercials when you can listen to online radio stations with limited advertising? With Ipods that connect directly into the car, mp3 players, and DVD players with multiple screens, radio is a dying medium.

Strangely enough, however, blogging and podcasting are growing faster than ever before. Give it a few years, and you might be able to return that e-mail, “people who waste their lives broadcasting radio shows that no one listens to.”
Pilgrim

I wrote them as well and had this reply this morning:

John Walton

I came from a listener’s letter…. We frequent many sites to gather material but I have never heard of Say Anything….not big on blogs… But If you wrote we fully agree with you viewpoint it was a cool analogy…that’s why we posted it… We check out the site

It’s still up on their site and still without attribution.
lulz

Tens of thousands of readers and at this count 118 (this makes 119, I guess) comments on twenty front page stories. More than 1 in 4 were on the Hillary Clinton at the Dem convention. Almost half of the comments in the “recent comments” sidebar are from you (though it is nice you respond to comments). Most of the other comments are from the same few people.

You’re definitely influential. And don’t let anyone tell you otherwise!

Getting ripped off sucks, but your response is about as arrogant as theirs.
http://www.thedailyslant.com/ Hairy Polemic

Of course you’ll have to preregister the posting ($45) before you institute an action. I think they’re banking on you not bothering with the investment.
http://stolenthunder.blogspot.com/ DJ Drummond

I live and work in Houston. I write on 2 blogs, and will do what I can to tar & feather these on-air trolls.
Paul

Jees, not only did they steal Pilgrim’s writings, they are using the whole theme as the image and title on their website now.

They are taunting now. Look at every response anyone has gotten, look at the response you get when you submit a comment to them, and look how they are reacting. This is classic of people who are complete and utter jerks. Apparently people with a radio show must be gods now?

At this point, there are only 2 options. Take legal action or just let it go. You’re not going to get an apology based on logic or ethics…the only thing they will respond to is being served papers.
http://www.bikebubba.blogspot.com/ Bike Bubba

It really doesn’t matter if SayAnything is influential, or if only Rob’s mom reads it. Plagiarism is plagiarism, and anyone involved in the trade in ideas is more or less saying they don’t deserve to be paid if they use someone else’s work without attribution.
http://stolenthunder.blogspot.com/ DJ Drummond

Well, there is one more option, of interest only to people like me.

Pray for God to convict them in their hearts.

Sound corny? Yeah, but in the past I have seen it work.

That, and make sure the issue does not die. Walton & Johnson are living large right now, but that won’t always be the case, and a letter to the station from a lawyer will wipe that smile off their face real quick.
D-Hoggs

Jees, not only did they steal Pilgrim’s writings, they are using the whole theme as the image and title on their website now.
D-Hoggs

I wrote this to them…

John Walton
“I came from a listeners letter…. We frequent many sites to gather
material but I have never heard of Say Anything….not big on blogs…But If you wrote we fully agree with you viewpoint it was a cool analogy…thats why we posted it…We check out the site”

No wonder you have to plagiarize material when your own writing is that atrocious.

I got this in reply!

John Walton

We answer 300 emails per day….sometimes you don’t get to cross all of the T’s and dot all of the I’s…. Sorry I answered this on at all. This kind of rudeness deserves no reply. So don’t bother sending anything back. We don’t plagiarize anything. PS Fuck off.

To which I replied:

HAH! Yeah, you don’t plagiarize anything…except
entire articles written by others that you pull from
blogs and post on your site, adding some text to make
it your own!! Ridiculous.
lmcurtis

Well, for what it’s worth, I sent Walton this email:

I’ve been a fan since you took over from Scoot back in the 80s, but stealing content and plagiarizing really sucks. And so do you for not apologizing and making it right.

You say that this site is for your fans, not webheads and bloggers… but I’m both – or rather, I WAS both. I didn’t frequent your website, but I used to listen to your show on Bayou 95.7. Check my IP address if you want proof that I’m local.
Former Fan

Of course, given that the redirect upon submitting the form is:

Your e-mail has been sent. Whether W&J will care about what you have to say or even bother to open it is a different matter. This website can’t work miracles.

I get the impression it’s not going to matter.
Bat One

Pilgrim,

The response you received is noteworthy both for its disingenuous, half-assed excuses, and the fact that whoever wrote it is quite obviously functionally illiterate. I’ve known inbred rednecks who could use words better.
Kelly

Walton and Johnson? Those idiots are still around?
http://sayanythingblog.com robport

Tens of thousands of readers and at this count 118 (this makes 119, I guess) comments on twenty front page stories. More than 1 in 4 were on the Hillary Clinton at the Dem convention. Almost half of the comments in the “recent comments” sidebar are from you (though it is nice you respond to comments). Most of the other comments are from the same few people.

You’re definitely influential. And don’t let anyone tell you otherwise!

Getting ripped off sucks, but your response is about as arrogant as theirs.

*shrugs*

Believe what you want, but the commenting community – while of decent size given that the vast majority of blogs get very few comments – is actually a small representation of overall readership. There are a ton of people who read at this site every day but never comment.

And then there are the readers at places like Reuters, the Chicago Sun-Times, USA Today, The Palm Beach Post…just to name a few.

As for my comments on the sidebar, most of those are from the last 15 minutes or so. I was catching up on comments. So sue me.

I wasn’t meaning to be arrogant. The dude basically said “We’re gonna rip you off because you don’t matter.” I was just pointing out that we do, in fact, matter at least a little bit.
http://sayanythingblog.com robport

Thanks Doug. I learned at the convention this weekend that there are a lot of people out there who are reading that I didn’t know about.
http://sayanythingblog.com robport

I’ve never listened to their show before, but Pilgrim told me he likes them and has been listening to them for a while.

I don’t understand why they’re treating us this way. All we did was try to get credit for Pilgrim who wrote the post. Nobody here cares that they used it. We think it’s great (the whole point of this blog is to disseminate our writing), but fair is fair.

We at least deserve proper attribution. That’s not unreasonable.
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