Who owns news? And how much of it can be quoted as a fair “sample” and how much constitutes a rip off?
The Associated Press challenged Florida blogger, Rogers Cadenhead, for quoting AP content on his blog. They demanded he remove a number of posts on the grounds that they were a copyright infringement at their expense.
This stirred a great deal of conversation about what blogging is for and how it affects publishers blogs link to. One argument is that the links from blogs direct traffic to the source materials and thereby enable, say, The New York Times, to get more readers to see its advertising. The opposite argument is that once you have the most essential information about a story you are satisfied and never click through to the source.
I link to news stories for several reasons. One is to footnote my statements to establish their credibility and accuracy. Another is to guide readers to far more information about topics that interest them than I provide in this blog. A third is to enrich single-source stories with perspectives from multiple publications so the subject matter is put in a broader context. I don’t quote to steal thunder that belongs to the news media I am citing.
The AP has bigger problems than bloggers borrowing a cup of sugar. AP is a support tool for the newspaper business, and the newspaper business itself is slowly dropping to its knees. AP is searching for a reason to be. Newspapers built their original value proposition in the days when dad came home from work, kicked off his shoes, and had his first opportunity of the day to find out what was going on in the world. Those days are gone, and AP’s core customer base is fading away with this change in our social routines.
Another problem facing AP is that it sells the same stories to many newspapers. If you surf the net for news you see the same AP story over and over. AP adds very little value in this electronic age. So how can it be valuable again? I really don’t know. Maybe it has simply outlived its usefulness. Or, maybe it can come up with an original idea that will appeal to a big audience. Only time will tell.
Blogs are bringing democracy to the world of news and commentary. The blogosphere is going through a messy period of development and evolution with thousands of people muddying the waters of cyberspace while the rules get sorted out.
Eventually a small percentage of blogs will win respect and recognition and will take leadership roles. Some already have. They will grow in stature to replace the newspapers that are losing their places in the social and commercial fabric. Most of the big papers have fallen into the hands of cultural barbarians and are less and less qualified to compete in this new environment. Bloggers are the great new hope for quality journalism in the future. I expect a lot of seasoned newsroom talent will switch their allegiance to blogs from print media.
We are seeing journalism reinvent itself, and personally I think its about time. No matter what rules the Associated Press makes about retaining ownership of its content, they are facing bigger threats than those posed by bloggers.
