Andy Ngo Blatantly Stole Another Story From Turtleboy 5 Days After Publication
Editor’s Note: We discussed this topic on the Live Show (1:19:25)
Post Millennial “journalist” and “best selling New York Times author” Andy Ngo has a long and documented history of taking credit for my work. Most egregiously he and I spent months working together on the Mikayla Miller hate crime hoax story in 2021, before he published the story in the New York Post without citing, linking, or even mentioning the fact that I did 95% of the leg work. When I tweeted about it he told me it was inappropriate to call him out publicly. The receipts are all here.
I regret to inform you that Andy Ngo did it again. Five days ago I published a story about a man who was arrested for kidnapping a 13 year old boy from his Utah home after grooming him on a gaming platform.
Although news of the arrest and rescinding of the Amber Alert had already been widely reported, no one at the time had reported on the kidnapper Aaron Zeman’s disturbing Twitter account. No one reported the fact that he was also a furry, who had been posting sexual fantasies about the young boy who he called his “lamb” for months. His account was filled with graphic sexual images of himself masturbating to his “very special boy.”
Then yesterday, a full 5 days after we published our story, Andy Ngo went and did this.
My latest report: A child abduction suspect was arrested in Nebraska with a missing boy from Utah. An investigation into Aaron Zeman's social media shows he is a pup-identified furry who groomed the child on Twitter. Content warning: https://t.co/iJdmrwAaw8
— Andy Ngô 🏳️🌈 (@MrAndyNgo) January 3, 2023
“Read my report.”
We already read it 5 days ago, Andy.
The Post Millennial’s account also tweeted it out.
He added basically nothing to his story that wasn’t already in mine. He even used the same cover photo.
I do not own the rights to report on the news, but it is common decency and practice for reporters to cite the source of their information. Andy follows me on Twitter and we have had several conversations spanning many months. Again, feel free to read it all here to see how blatant it is. According to the PM’s own attribution policy, their columnists must cite and link any sources they use.
Andy Ngo stans will say that he could’ve found this anywhere, but the fact that he blatantly stole the Mikayla Miller story from me, follows me on Twitter, and has done this many times before, should erase any doubt.
This might not seem like a big deal to people who don’t write stories for a living, but it’s completely unethical for him to continue to do this. Being cited and recognized for your work is how journalists get recognized, network, and grow professionally. Shortly after Andy wrote his version of the story Turtleboy broke, the Daily Mail published their story on it. You’ll notice that they cite Andy Ngo in their story. Had Andy cited Turtleboy, the Daily Mail likely would have too. This is why citing matters.
Critics will say that media outlets continue to do this because of the language I use, or the fact that the website is called Turtleboy Daily News. But that’s not true, it wouldn’t really matter if it was, and it’s not an excuse for plagiarism. Not liking the name of a website doesn’t give you the right to steal from it. I created the website TBDailyNews.com in 2019 because I didn’t want it to be associated with Turtleboysports.com, which used crass and foul language, so that argument is null and void. Additionally, many mainstream media outlets have cited and linked our work:
- Boston Globe cited the Karyn Polito COVID party story
- The Napa Valley register cited and linked our investigation into Kylie Kirkpatrick
- The Washington Post cited the story we broke about Alli Bibaud
- Masslive cited and credited our investigation into Mosaic Cultural Complex
- The Boston Globe credited us with holding the State Police accountable for hiring a drug dealing state trooper
I could find dozens of other examples, but you get the point. The problem isn’t my language or the name of the website. The problem is that Andy Ngo wants the credit for himself, because he is a dishonest thief and hack. Turtleboy is an independent media outlet, and people like Andy believe they only need to cite sources that are owned and controlled by large corporations.
Libby Emmons is the editor for The Post Millennial. I urge you, if you have a couple minutes, to send her an email at [email protected], demanding to know why her star reporter is allowed to continue to do this. Feel free to link this blog about stealing the Mikayla Miller story, along with the blog you are currently reading.
