I’ve Been Calling Out the SEO Parasite National Today and Its Rotten CEO Ben Kaplan — Turns Out I’m Not Alone
DUBLIN, IRELAND (April 18, 2026) — For weeks now, I have been sounding the alarm about National Today, the so-called “news” site operated by TOP Agency and its CEO, Benjamin “Ben” Kaplan. I caught them stealing my original journalism — twice in quick succession — repackaging it with zero credit, zero new reporting, and zero added value, all while using my work to prop up their content farm.
Turns out I’m not alone.
On April 17, 2026, Futurism published a major exposé by Senior Staff Writer Maggie Harrison Dupré, which was syndicated and distributed via Yahoo News. The article, titled A Prominent PR Firm Is Running a Fake News Site That’s Plagiarizing Original Journalism at Incredible Scale, confirms exactly what I’ve been documenting: National Today is a large-scale plagiarism operation run by a prominent PR firm.
Dupré details how TOP Agency (clients include Budweiser, Microsoft, Intel, and others) uses National Today to flood the internet with stolen and rewritten content. The goal? To game search rankings and create “ownable viral moments” for brands. The piece also notes that Google is aware of these practices, as the search giant has long faced criticism for surfacing such parasitic sites that dilute real journalism while profiting from ad revenue and SEO manipulation.
My Work, Their Theft
On April 8, 2026 at 6:09 pm, Talk of the Sound published my story: “New Rochelle High Rise Murder Case Heads Toward Trial as Indictment Details Clarify Evidence, Prior Conviction.”
I was the only outlet in the world covering that development at the time.
The piece was the result of real journalistic work: repeatedly checking eCourts NY, emailing the Westchester County District Attorney’s office about repeated adjournments, obtaining and reviewing the new grand jury indictment, and updating my prior 2024 coverage on the case of Robert Wooten, charged in the 2024 murder of Meisha Williams in the parking garage of the 55 Clinton Place high-rise.
Over the course of a week, I put in significant original effort to produce a timely, accurate article that set the stage for ongoing reporting as the case heads toward trial or a possible plea deal.
Just hours later, at 10:07 pm the same day, National Today published its version under the “New Rochelle Today” section.
Here is a side-by-side comparison of the two articles:
Side-by-Side Comparison: High-Rise Murder Case
| Aspect | Talk of the Sound (My Original – April 8, 2026, 6:09 pm) | National Today (“New Rochelle Today” – April 8, 2026, 10:07 pm) |
|---|---|---|
| Headline | New Rochelle High Rise Murder Case Heads Toward Trial as Indictment Details Clarify Evidence, Prior Conviction | Georgia Man Charged in New Rochelle High-Rise Murder Heads to Trial |
| Key Details | Full update on charges (2nd-degree murder, burglary, weapon possession), surveillance video, Wooten’s prior 2020 weapons conviction, his statements, new indictment details, next court date (April 9) | Same charges, same evidence (surveillance, prior conviction, statements), same next court date |
| Sources / Effort | Original work: eCourts checks, DA email correspondence, grand jury indictment review, linkage to 2024 reporting | No independent sourcing mentioned; no new facts; no links or credits |
| Added Value | Context from prior coverage; sets up future trial reporting | Generic “Why it matters” and “Takeaway” sections on domestic violence and gun crime |
| Credit / Attribution | N/A (original reporting) | None — no mention of Talk of the Sound or my work |
| Byline | Robert Cox | “New Rochelle Today” (Kaplan listed as author on many similar pieces) |
Dupré wrote about my reaction:
Last week, we found while reporting this story, a journalist named Robert Cox caught National Today ripping off a local crime story he wrote for Talk of the Sound, a local outlet serving New Rochelle, New York.
“Over the course of a week, I put in significant original work… to produce a timely, accurate article that set the stage for ongoing reporting as the case moves toward trial or a possible plea deal,” Cox wrote of the theft, adding that the National Today dupe he discovered “adds no independent sourcing, no new facts, and no original analysis.”
“There is also no attribution, no link, and no credit given to Talk of the Sound or to my reporting,” he wrote. “Just Kaplan passing off my work as his own. How is this not copyright infringement and theft of my original copyrighted work?”
Nothing in the National Today piece is not already contained in my reporting.
How is this not copyright infringement and theft of my original copyrighted work?
Not an Isolated Incident — And DMCA Request Ignored
This wasn’t a one-off. Days earlier, I reported on the arraignment of Ijahnee Simmons in the downtown stabbing at The Leaf apartment tower. My April 2 story detailed the felony assault charge, bail set at up to $30,000, and court outcome.
The very next day, National Today ran its version under “New Rochelle Today” — and it is still live as of today at:
Even the URL carries a tracking tag ?ref=robertcox.ie, quietly acknowledging that traffic is coming from my site while they refuse to give any credit. The piece adds nothing new and follows the exact same low-effort rewrite pattern.
I filed a DMCA takedown notice for the stolen murder article. So far, that request has been ignored. The content remains online, continuing to siphon visibility that rightfully belongs to the original reporting.
The Bigger Picture — And My Frustration
The exposé by Maggie Harrison Dupré at Futurism (syndicated via Yahoo News) puts all of this in sharp relief. National Today didn’t just steal from me — it systematically plagiarizes from outlets across the country, including Futurism itself (as Dupré recounts in the article, where National Today quickly republished a rewritten version of her team’s work without credit or links). They rewrite stories with AI that sometimes turns real people into “Jane Doe” or fabricates quotes. Meanwhile, Kaplan’s TOP Agency pitches the site as a tool for brands to reach millions of consumers.
I do this work because local journalism matters. New Rochelle residents deserve accurate, sourced reporting on crime, the courts, and public safety — not generic SEO slop that appears under a fake local banner. It is exhausting to spend days (or weeks) doing the legwork — checking records, making calls, updating old stories — only to watch it get diluted into content that ranks anyway, helping a PR firm promote everything from beer holidays to whatever client pays next.
Being quoted in the Futurism/Yahoo piece and learning that Google is aware of these practices validates the issue, but it doesn’t magically remove the stolen articles or stop the machine. My work remains live on their site. No apology. No removal. No accountability from Kaplan or TOP Agency.
This is what small independent journalists are up against: content farms that treat real reporting as raw material for their algorithms and ad revenue schemes, while the platforms that profit from it drag their feet.
What You Can Do
Be skeptical when “local” news sites pop up out of nowhere with polished but unsourced crime stories. Check the bylines and publication times. Support outlets that do the actual work — the ones that show up in court, file FOILs, and email sources.
I will continue covering this. I have filed a DMCA takedown and will pursue more — including following up with Google directly now that the Futurism/Yahoo piece has highlighted the problem. If you have tips about other National Today lifts or similar operations, send them my way.
In the meantime, let’s hope Ben Kaplan finds some other way to promote Beer Day — preferably without stealing my journalism to do it.
This article was prepared with the assistance of AI tools under the direction and editing of Robert Cox.
Have information about this story? Email robertcox@talkofthesound.com (preferred) or contact via WhatsApp: +353 089 972 0669.
