The Jeff Beckham Weblog

Texas Monthly editor Evan Smith has found himself in the middle of quite the dust-up after pointing out that this month’s cover of Rhode Island Monthly magazine (”Steak”) bears a striking resemblance to the December 2007 issue of Texas Monthly (”Steak”).

Smith’s post has nearly 50 comments at this point, more than any other post in his eight-month-old blog. And the majority take the editor to task for “whining” and taking credit for an unoriginal idea.

I suppose it could be just a coincidence. I’m not sure how much lead time goes into planning a cover image, but I suppose it’s possible that the Rhode Island crew didn’t see the Texas Monthly image between the time it was published late last year and when their own cover came out. Oddly, Texas Monthly was involved in a similar incident in 2005 when Boston magazine published a cover that looked very much like a previous TM cover.

I’m siding with Smith on this one — the similarities are just too much. Perhaps there are no original ideas left, but at least admit where the inspiration for the idea comes from.

Interestingly, Texas Monthly won Magazine Cover of the Year last year with a cover image that was a tribute to a famous National Lampoon cover image. Proving you can adapt ideas, just be sure to give credit where credit is due.