Cooks Source Editor Gives First Interview; Says She'll Probably Shut Down The Magazine
from the no-surprise-there dept
Judith Griggs, the editor of Cooks Source, who discovered that mocking a woman whose article she copied, without permission, in her magazine resulted in international attention, has now given her first interview about the whole thing, in which she admits that she was wrong and suggests she's probably going to close down the magazine. Yet, while she definitely seems apologetic, it does seem like she's more apologetic about the fact that this came back to haunt her, rather than for her actions:"I feel so bad for anybody now who has bad publicity because people can be so horrible," Griggs, 59, said in her first interview about the matter. "I don't know if I'm going to continue Cooks Source. At this point, it's looking doubtful."While folks like Mathew Ingram are wondering if the punishment doled out was too much, others, such as Steve Butry make the point that "she wasn't contrite when confronted with the error, [but] only when exposed," while also pointing out that plenty of good businesses fail, and if there should be sympathy for failing businesses, it should be pushed in their direction.
I will admit that as much as I think social mores can be an effective regulator of certain types of behavior, I am also always a little wary of pure mob justice, because it can grow like an avalanche -- and if a mistake is made, and someone is improperly blamed or the mob lashes out without all the facts, the results can be devastating. I'm not sure I know what the proper answer is here, other than to hope that enough information is clearly provided before such mob justice lashes out. In this case, I tend to agree with Butry. The woman's response to being caught was clearly inappropriate, and so it's difficult to be too concerned about that publication going out of business.
Filed Under: copying, judith griggs, mob justice, social mores
Companies: cooks source
