Mercopress, a publication focused on South Atlantic affairs, is facing significant backlash after a second instance of plagiarism involving content from the UK Defence Journal.
The situation has been further complicated by Carlos Jones, the editor of Mercopress, accidentally sending our team an internal email that insulted George Allison, the editor of the UK Defence Journal, and contained bizarre claims that reveal a fundamental misunderstanding of standard journalistic practices.
The controversy began when George Allison discovered that an article he wrote about HMS Cardiff had been copied verbatim and published on Mercopress’s website without his permission or proper attribution.
This marks the second time Mercopress has been caught plagiarising content from the UK Defence Journal, raising serious concerns about the publication’s editorial standards.
In response to discovering his article had been plagiarised, Allison reached out to Mercopress to address the issue. He stated, “It was copied word for word and published on your website. I am pleased to see it has now been removed. We work hard on our content, please ask in future before using our work.”
This follows a previous incident where Mercopress similarly used UK Defence Journal content without authorisation.
Accidental Insult, Fabricated Claims, and Unprofessional Remarks
The situation escalated when Mercopress mistakenly sent an internal email to George Allison that contained derogatory remarks about him. The email, intended for internal use, referred to Allison as a “total idiot” and made a series of odd claims about his work, revealing a fundamental misunderstanding of standard journalistic practices.
The email read in the relevant section:
“UK defense, very grateful, one less place to go looking for news, George is a total idiot, I spoke to him. He confessed to me that the news is gathered from parts of companies and the English Armed Forces. Hence my confusion, with the name he gave the site and Union Jack flags everywhere and photos that said Crown Property, and a somewhat similar note on the Royal Navy, I leaned towards UK defense!!!”
This statement suggests that Mercopress mistakenly interpreted standard journalistic practices, such as the use of images marked “Crown Copyright” when using MOD imagery when reporting on various topics, or referencing press releases, as an indication that the UK Defence Journal is an official entity of the UK government. You know, despite our website being clear on this and of course, our open, honest criticism of issues.
This is particularly puzzling given that neither of the articles stolen from the UK Defence Journal contained press releases or official imagery—they were entirely composed of original content, including photographs taken by George Allison himself.
George Allison has also confirmed that no conversation ever took place between him and the sender, making the claims in the email even more bizarre and unfounded.
Odd Remarks About Being “Grateful” for Plagiarism
One of the most striking and troubling aspects of the email is the suggestion that George Allison should be “grateful” for the plagiarism of his work. The email stated: “Nothing, he should be grateful for the dissemination of his material, anyway, better, one less idiot to deal with!!!”
The language used here is not only unprofessional but also perplexing, particularly given the context. The idea that George should feel “grateful” for having his work stolen and republished without permission is bizarre and reflects a serious misunderstanding of ethical journalism.
The notion that the unauthorised dissemination of his material is something positive—especially when it was done without consent or attribution—shows the dismissive attitude towards intellectual property rights exhibited by Mercopress.
Moreover, the casual insult of calling Allison an “idiot” further compounds the lack of respect for both him and the integrity of his work. The combination of these factors paints a concerning picture of the editorial culture within Mercopress and raises questions about the organisation’s commitment to ethical standards.
The dismissive and unprofessional attitude towards the plagiarism issue, as demonstrated in the email, could lead to serious damage to Mercopress’s credibility.
George this is the way of the word re copyright nowadays. There will always be arses who would rather steal than create.
We will continue to be supporters of this site and the excellent content you provide
All very strange.
I’ve written plenty of content and copy that has been copied and pasted into odd places.
George, like me, loves primary sourced info. So becomes a target for nicking original researched content.
‘The dismissive and unprofessional attitude towards the plagiarism issue, as demonstrated in the email, could lead to serious damage to Mercopress’s credibility.’
‘Could’ was you being kind. You are above this level of crassness.
A very well deserved if unintended compliment George but their lack of manners not to mention unprofessional conduct is disgraceful and arrogant!
Hard not to notice he has a similar writing style to Merco’s resident anglophobic troll, except the reference to the ‘English armed forces’ rather than the ‘Bwitish armed forces.’
“Bwitish armed forces” Who wrote this, Biggus Dickus?
Well the fact that they used a picture of the Type 42 HMS Cardiff, rather than the Type 26 future HMS Cardiff in the article, shows all you need to know about their quality and why to never bother using them as a source of defence news.
Don’t send any video or pics to the BBC George. They’ll have the lot, and not even give you a credit.
I’m sure you don’t take it personally! Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery!
Not surprised to hear this. The line between research and plagiarism is easily crossed. Max Hastings admitted that he was close to later for his book on the Pedestal Convoy.
I’ve had several bad experiences:
When passing through the UK (I haven’t lived there since 1994) I purchased a well known magazine to read on the plane, and realised the main article was very familiar – I had written it! I contacted the magazine editor and discovered that someone had been selling them for several years articles that he was taking from my [free] website! I got a 1 para apology, a free subscription for a year, and promise that they would never use that author again. Unfortunately I still see his name regularly cropping up, even in some very respected publications.
Speaking of subs, I was once puzzled to unexpectedly receive an email from someone complaining about the lack of recent updates to the website, and that they expected a better service. Upon investigation it turned out that a company had basically cloned my site and was charging a substantial fee for users to access it! They normally changed the email address from mine, but had missed an alias. Unfortunately the company was based in the USA and there proved to be little I could do except call them out at every opportunity and generally try to embarrass them.
Took me all of 2 seconds to find another plagiarized “news” item from this company This time lifted straight off Forcesnews.com. Dating back to Nov22 and again about the Type 26. They are clearly journalistic parasites relying on the hard work of others, and have been for some time…