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We’ve been following the plagiarism accusations against Crime Junkie hosts Ashley Flowers and Brit Prawat since they broke last week. Former Democrat-Gazette reporter Cathy Frye was the first to claim an episode of Crime Junkie featured information from a series she wrote when working for the paper.
David Bailey, managing editor of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, said the paper is satisfied that the episode had been removed and no further action is planned.
Reporter Jerry McLeod interviewed Frye for the piece. Frye seems to be satisfied Flowers and Prawat took down the episode. “I’m glad the Crime Junkie podcasters took down not only the episode in which they neglected to credit me or the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, but also other episodes that might be challenged by podcasters and newspaper or broadcast journalists.”
Frye told McLeod she felt some sense of validation after learning that other people came forward with accusations identical to hers. “Do I feel vindicated? No. In a statement issued days after I made my allegations public, and only under duress, the Crime Junkie podcasters did not apologize or acknowledge that they haven’t been citing sources or crediting journalists or their fellow podcasters. Instead, they claimed that their ‘source material’ could no longer be found, contending that this is why they were suddenly — and in secrecy — deleting episodes from their website. Their ’explanation’ is clearly untrue, as my series remains on the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette’s website and was published in a book by the American Society of Newspaper Editors. I mean, this pair of podcasters clearly had no problem finding my series when they decided to steal from it. They might be more careful in the near future, at least until the storm dies down. Have they learned anything from any of this? Highly unlikely.”
Steven Pacheco of the Trace Evidence podcast did a side-by-side with his podcast and a Crime Junkie episode, also alleging they used a story of his without crediting him.