Reader: Westword Writers Are Zero-Talent Morons

Bree Davies loves Denver, the town where she was born and raised; she frequently shares tidbits about the Mile High City's past and observations on where it's going in her Breeality column. And as she notes in the most recent installment, sometimes those stories are lifted without attribution by other...

By Patricia Calhoun

May 21, 2015

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Bree Davies loves Denver, the town where she was born and raised; she frequently shares tidbits about the Mile High City's past and observations on where it's going in her Bree-ality column. And as she notes in the most recent installment, sometimes those stories are lifted without attribution by other sites, then shared. That piece has inspired a host of comments — some nice, some nasty. And if you want to read any of them, you'll need to do so quickly, because we're moving to a new commenting system — all on Facebook — later today, when all previously posted comments will disappear (they'll be archived, though, and we hope to restore them later). In the meantime, here's a sampling of the responses to Bree's latest piece.

Says James:

Actually 90% of the writers at the westword are zero-talent morons, who have the worst taste in food, music, and culture; and to be honest, most of your stories are stolen from somewhere else. The westword has just become another stale, mainstream media outlet.

Says coit.stevenson:

Is it 'right', or 'ok' to steal a story without attribution, permission, or payment? Absolutely not.

Does it happen constantly in the online writing/photography/publishing world? 100%.

Maybe you should focus on getting better wages from WW rather than bitching in an attempt to pinch pennies from other companies. Be thankful you write for WW in the first place and take the inevitable stealing of "stories" as a compliment.

Tons of aspiring writers would give their genitalia to be in a consistent gig like WW, or have their work published ANYWHERE on the internet, paid or not. In short: get over yourself, you're lucky your whiney stories get shared from anywhere.

Says Brett:

fuck westword — you guys are the epitome of shitty journalism.

There's lots more, and you can read it all here — at least for the next few hours.

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Patricia Calhoun is editor-in-chief of Westword, the alt-weekly she co-founded in September 1977. She’s been inducted into the Colorado Press Association Hall of Fame, the Association of Alternative Newsmedia Hall of Fame and the Colorado Restaurant Association Hall of Fame. She’s also received dozens of local, state and national awards for writing, including first place for feature writing and first place for column writing with the Society of Professional Journalists. Patricia is a weekly commentator on Colorado Inside Out, PBS 12's public affairs roundtable, which has won two Emmys.

Contact: Patricia Calhoun

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