The Australian’s media editor lashes ‘parasite’ bloggers after professional identity theft
Davidson: “Too much of the blogging environment is poulated by parasites”
The editor of The Australian’s media section Darren Davidson has said the blogosphere is “populated by parasites” after someone using a fake email address contacted senior media executives to attempt to steal stories by pretending to be him.
Victoria Police are understood to have been called in to investigate the case which Davidson believes could have been going on for several months, culminating in News Corp lawyers sending a cease and desist letter to one of the owners of the DeciderTV blog, Kevin Perry.
Davidson told Mumbrella he was alerted by contacts that someone was using a false email address similar to his official News Corp one to contact executives at media companies in March. However, the offender had also paid to protect their IP address, frustrating efforts to track down the culprit by News Corp’s techies.
Things came to a head on mid-April when a PR person for Nine Network accidentally emailed an opinion piece by presenter Tracy Grimshaw defending the actions of the 60 Minutes crew in Beirut to the fake email address, instead of Davidson.
According to a report in The Australian’s Media Diary today:
“TV blogger Kevin Perry rang Nine to say he had been given the piece by a ‘source’. Grimshaw’s piece had been accidentally emailed to Davidson’s impersonator. Perry told Nine he was preparing to run it on his blog…DeciderTV. Clearly, the relevant email had gone to the ‘source’ or Perry.”
News Corp lawyers were called into action on the Sunday afternoon of April 17 and are understood to have sent a cease and desist letter to Perry, telling him he was handling stolen goods and would be in serious trouble if he published Grimshaw’s piece.
‘No comment’: Perry
Perry declined to comment when asked by Mumbrella if he was behind the fake email account or knew who was. News Corp also declined to comment on whether there was any ongoing legal action against Perry.
Asked about his views on the issue Davidson told Mumbrella: “They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery that mediocrity can pay, but stealing one’s identity and handling stolen material is a pretty serious criminal offence.
“It’s yet another example of why too much of the blogging environment is populated by parasites. A vast wasteland of low-end junk and meaningless, undifferentiated traffic based on endless recirculation and cheap social media tricks to game content aggregators and search engines.”
But if you were going to imitate someone, wouldn’t you choose someone with clout? Not a journo who is known only for writing cringe-worthy puff pieces for his own media outlet
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If Mr Davidson was himself a paragon there might by empathy. But he is not and there is none.
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” endless recirculation and cheap social media tricks to game content and aggregators and search engines”
Little bit like calling the kettle black really.
Paul v Walters
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“A vast wasteland of low-end junk and meaningless, undifferentiated traffic based on endless recirculation and cheap social media tricks to game content aggregators and search engines.”
The quote is a pretty handy guide to News Corp’s output to be fair
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Because no-one working for My Davidson’s employer ever engaged in industrial scale phone-hacking, did they?
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I love reading this guy. He is so knowledgable and really understands the media. I can completely understand why someone would impersonate him because he is absolutely at the top of his game.
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Love your ‘parasites’ quote. Too many anonymous cowards underneath the article.
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When you point a finger,
two point back….
“It’s yet another example of why too much of the tabloid press is populated by parasites. A vast wasteland of low-end junk and meaningless, undifferentiated stories based on endless recirculation and cheap media tricks to game more readers.”
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Plus 1. Well said.
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Outrageous behaviour.
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I agree 100%. Fucken parasites gamed me into paying too much for my last investment property. Luckily, I negatively geared the shit out of it…
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