Copyright issues cast shadow over World Press Freedom Day

With the huge growth of Internet publishing, journalists face a new threat to their ability to make a decent living

By: Robert Labossiere

  May 3, 2000 -- World Press Freedom Day is a day to celebrate freedom to report the news and readers' freedom to know - and to mourn the deaths of journalists and photographers who have given their lives "in the line of duty". But it is also a day for reflection and discussion among media professionals about issues of press freedom and professional ethics.
  In this year 2000, when the Internet has asserted itself as a dominant force for the dissemination of news and information, questions of professional ethics demand attention. The press is beset by unprecedented conflicts between those who create the news and the publishers that bring the news to the public. The conflict is over copyright.
 

Clearly electronic media is where the money is and the question that has not been answered is why journalists and others who create the news have been left out of the equation

  The issue has been festering in Canada, and globally, since at least 1996 when journalists began to discover their work distributed without their knowledge on the Internet or in other electronic media. Since that time three class action lawsuits have been launched in Canada by freelance journalists: against the Thomson Corporation, publisher of the Globe and Mail; the Montreal Gazette and the Southam chain to which it belongs; and more recently against 14 French language magazine and newspaper publishers in Quebec.
  None of these cases has yet come to trial. But since 1996, Thomson Corporation has steadily grown its electronic information businesses. So lucrative is the burgeoning electronic market that Thomson announced in February that it will sell off most of its print operations to concentrate on electronic publishing. Hollinger, operating the Southam chain of newspapers in Canada, last week announced similar plans to divest itself of print operations and the Toronto Star is also revamping its Internet/electronic media plans. Clearly electronic media is where the money is and the question that has not been answered is why journalists and others who create the news have been left out of the equation.
  Instead of progress towards solutions, the largest print-based publishers are entrenching in what can only be called a war over copyright, confronting freelancers with contracts that demand "all rights, for all time, worldwide" without offering anything in the way of payment. In the worst cases, contracts demand rights for past works as well as future works and freelancers are being told the must sign if they want to continue to work for that publisher.
  The Boston Globe, to cite only the most recent egregious example, summarily announced to 1000 of its regular freelancers that they have until June 1st to sign over their rights. At the same time the Globe has been boasting of increased royalty and licensing revenues from its electronic media ventures.
 

There can be no free press where those who are working within it are abused. For journalists and other freelancers, copyright is the foundation of their livelihood

  The Boston Globe's approach is all the more startling given that many new Internet-based publishers pay for content at rates that are competitive with, or even higher than, what print publishers pay. Internet-based publishers are eager to foster good relationships with dependable freelancers. They are skilled at developing new revenue models. One of those models is to flow revenue back to the people creating original material.
  Other publishers are bringing their print publications online without sacrificing the trusted relationships they have with their freelancers. In the best case scenarios, they are finding ways to share revenues from the new media distribution with their contributors.
  Fairness demands that the creative community be included in the revenue model that is being developed for electronic media. There can be no free press where those who are working within it are abused. For journalists and other freelancers, copyright is the foundation of their livelihood.
  Publishers understand very well the importance of copyright. The shoe is very much on the other foot when it comes to music or television. Publishers squashed iCraveTV, the Canadian Internet upstart, only hours before it was scheduled to stream the Superbowl live out over the Internet. Publishers are in the process of squashing MP3.com, the Web site that allows individuals to archive and swap music files for free on its Web site. A U.S. court last week upheld music publishers' claims that MP3 was responsible for copyright infringement. Damages are yet to be determined but publishers are seeking damages of as much as $150,000 per song. Similar actions are pending against Napster.com, a Web site interface that enables individuals to visit each other's computers to download music files.
  If print publishers were in the same situation, armies of lawyers would be hotly contesting their copyright, and presumably winning. Moreover, a wave of new software and Web applications is being developed specifically to serve the publisher market, promising to indelibly mark digital files so they can be traced or enabling online payment for their use.
  Print publishers have been in a privileged position up to now because they are the ones pushing content out electronically, exploiting freelance material whether or not the author has given copyright permission. But the issues are coming to a head. Today, on World Press Freedom Day, journalists in Quebec are petitioning francophone publishers to begin an open and fair process of negotiation. The Association of Independent Journalists of Quebec (AJIQ), supported by organized labour through the National Communications Federation (FNC), has brought the community of freelancers together behind a common goal. They have invited publishers to the table to bargain in good faith. Journalists throughout Canada and the world support their initiative.

Robert Labossiere has been involved in alternative publishing and independent presses since 1982 when he helped co-found the Winnipeg culture-crit magazine Midcontinental. He has also written for Fuse and others. In the mid-eighties he succumbed to an uncontrollable urge to impale himself on the status quo and went to law school. His law practice since 1992 has focussed in part on the creative community. He is presently the Executive Director of The Electronic Rights Licensing Agency (TERLA) a copyright collective that represents Canadian freelance writers, photographers and illustrators.

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The Boston Globe situation, as reported in the Village Voice:
  www.villagevoice.com/issues/0017/cotts.shtml

Unionized media workers represented worldwide by the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ): www.authorsrights.org

Union support in Quebec for the AJIQ initiative: www.csn.qc.ca

How the availability of information over the Internet affects authors and their readers and publishers: www.firstmonday.org/issues/issue4/samuelson

Copyright protection initiatives announced May 1st by Microsoft and Xerox:
  www.xrml.org/white_paper.htm

Past Straight Goods articles on iCraveTV:

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