[Tyrannosaurs]

MP3s are different, they're covered by a specific law (the Digital Millennium Copyright Act) created at the behest of the record companies and it wouldn't apply here.

While there may be some elements of criminal law that might apply, in all probability this would have been a straight civil case rather than a criminal matter with the writers claiming damages for the work published without permission. She could have accepted liability (or even not done so), paid them (which would likely have been relatively limited given the pieces she's used - it's not like she's been grabbing major scoops from the NYT) and moved on.

The chances are that the writers would be no more interested in racking up legal bills that she would so costs there would have been minimal. Basically she gives each one of them a few hundred dollars, they give her a letter saying it's OK to run the piece.

She was in the wrong but the punishment (essentially being forced out of business) doesn't really fit the "crime" and the legal remedies would have been far easier on her than the mob was.

[chesser]

Copyright law was originally instituted to cover written works. There is a ton of case law.

It would not have been kind to them.

Nobody "forced" them out of business, they voluntarily quit when they realized their sham was exposed.

In aggregate, their behavior easily qualified as multiple felonies; and damages alone would most likely have been ruinous.

I know I would not want to roll those dice.

So I think you're mistaken about essentially everything you said above.