A Proportionate Response
As I loitered around National Bookstore waiting for my ride, I ran into a poster for a book, called "Hello, Garci? Political Humor in The Cellphone Age." I tracked it down to see it shelved two covers wide on the eye level shelf in the humor category.
I glanced at the cover: author, Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism. Here's the cover:
As I thumb through the first few pages -- I saw something that almost made my heart fall:
Of course, I was shocked. The acknowledgement goes on to say:
The contributions of these Web humorists round out this collection. Our thanks go to all of them and to the anonymous artist who did the komiks in the first chapter of this book. This series of comic strips show Gloria as Darna, but uses real photographs instead of drawings. It was passed on to us by email and although we did use our investigative skills, we failed to trace the author.If you don't know it yet, these komiks are from my blog.
Several things bother me about this:
1. Had they done the Google search I had inserted at the end of my komiks, keyword "bulletproof vest," they would have found me. So much for investigative journalism when the answer's right at your nose.2. It would have been all okay, I guess, had the PCIJ asked for permission. But, not knowing the author, and without gaining permission from the author, they publish it anyway. It's the first chapter of the book and the only part of the book that was printed in color (other than the cover).
3. On top of that, they placed an all rights reserved copyright on the book. Now, that's just really dumb. I couldn't even copyright the komiks myself because none of the photographs I used were permitted.
4. They, on the other hand, credit this copycat at Retzwerx who has a few one cell, really corny comics printed sporadically in the book. I don't even want a link on my blog for this donkey.
My question now is, and I hope Sassy's reading, what do I do? The PCIJ should know full well about copyright laws, and sadly, they disregard this to make a quick buck. Shouldn't I get some of that?
By the way, if any of you have this book, I'd gladly sign it for you.
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Comments
Happy, I posted an entry. Long comments here can't get past your filters.
happy...this sucks! you should get something from this. go get some!!!
i informed pcij it was you, but only when i saw the book after it came out.
que horror! before i read the previopus comment, i said to myself, "isumbong mo kay sassy!" this really sucks man.
Dear PCIJ,
It won't adversely affect your credibility if you admit that a material or an article was taken from, or was inspired by, a blog. As you can see, it only ruins it when you don't.
Resty O.
Wow, somebody should get on PCIJ's case for this. This is just horrible.
I have been trying to post a message to respond to your concerns for the past two hours but apparently long messages are being rejected. Please refer to my comment posted on the PCIJ blog (www.pcij.org/blog?/p=572#comments)
Oh Gawd, what a rip-off. "Investigative journalism," my foot. Have you contacted PCIJ yourself? Someone should answer for this!
You should know that retz was e-mailed by Sheila Coronel to ask permission to post the poop-tograph
in their blog only and not for commercial use.
I advised retz to discontinue the pooptograph
since I felt that he should shift his focus.
PCIJ must have known retz because MLQ also used his pooptograph and I discussed this thing with
Sassy in private conversation via e-mail long
before you express this outrage.
see my blog about it.
I would consult a lawyer.... a realy practicing lawyer with the expertise of copyright material... then, go decide if you want to take it to another level..
Happy, if they did this, it means they have NO RESPECT for the works of others meaning THEY DON'T CARE... go teach them a lesson...
Yeah, there's this bigger issue of (mainstream) media taking blogs too lightly. They don't realize that a lot of bloggers are professionals in their respective fields and part-time writers, too.
this totally sucks big time! you should be paid for your work or atleast get a commission and you should be given the proper recognition. hope everything would be resolved and that you get justice. more power to you!
"They, on the other hand, credit this copycat at Retzwerx who has a few one cell, really corny comics printed sporadically in the book. I don't even want a link on my blog for this donkey."
oh my, do you really have to write this?!?! i understand that you were upset, but pare that's rude!
I'm so sorry to hear this. I saw copies of the book last year in the book stores but didn't get a chance to buy them. All along I thought that your name was acknowledged.
(BTW, di ako makacomment sa page mo properly, questionable material daw kasi pangalan ko)