I have more than once pointed out the irony of news media outlets having to cope with public relations crises. From having to play defense when the accuracy of news stories is challenged, to having to admit reporters fabricated news, the news media needs public relations counsel now more than ever. As fiscal pressures enhance the likelihood of screw ups, as well as an increased drive to be more sensational in order to compete for readers and viewers, the legacy news media is becoming a more perilous and less-trustworthy information industry.
Nothing exemplifies this more than the the Associated Press’ recent problems in its reporting. When the AP’s John Solomon went after U.S. Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.) implying legal and ethical wrong doing in land deals, he was once again omitting key facts. More recently, the AP’s recent mountain-out-of-a-mole-hill reporting of supposedly toxic waters adds to the news agency’s growing credibility gap.
This past week, the AP solidified its public relations ineptitude by issuing ‘takedown notices‘ to the Drudge Retort and Rogers Cadenhead, which I was first alerted to here and then here. The alleged crime is copyright infringement.
The AP’s “Intellectual Property Governance Coordinator,” Irene Keselman–who, in her LinkedIn profile, boasts, “I am an Intellectual Property Consultant with substantial prosecution and enforcement experience”–writes:
Further to our earlier correspondence, below are DMCA Notices of Copyright Infringement. Please note that the below lists specific posts and/or comments within the original article/post. Please remove them as soon as possible.
I certify under penalty of perjury, that I am an agent authorized to act on behalf of the owner of the intellectual property rights and that the information contained in this notice is accurate.
I have a good faith belief that the page or material listed below is not authorized by law for use by the individual(s) associated with the identified page listed below or their agents and therefore infringes the copyright owner’s rights.
I HEREBY DEMAND THAT YOU ACT EXPEDITIOUSLY TO REMOVE OR DISABLE ACCESS TO THE PAGE OR MATERIAL CLAIMED TO BE INFRINGING.
Cadenhead, a former journalist, responds:
AP has filed copyright lawsuits against the VeriSign division Moreover last fall and another against the Florida company All Headline News this year.
I have no desire to be the third member of that club, but sharing links to news stories of interest has become an essential component of how millions of people read and evaluate the news today. When linking to articles, bloggers commonly include excerpts of the article for the purposes of criticism or discussion. Some AP member sites encourage this kind of reuse. Yahoo News, the source for two disputed stories, invites bloggers to use items from its RSS feeds. USA Today, the source for two others, includes a browser widget alongside articles that facilitates their submission to Digg, Mixx and other sites. Wade Duchene, the attorney who helped me win the domain name arbitration for Wargames.Com, says that what we’re doing on the Retort is the “absolute definition of fair use.”
Regardless of which entities are in the right (I’m guessing bloggers will ultimately win), the Associated Press’ actions are bullying in tone and likely in reality.
Before sending the takedown notices, AP legal counsel should have consulted PR counsel before pulling the tard trigger.
[Edit 6/16/08] The New York Times is reporting today that AP is backing off:
Jim Kennedy, vice president and strategy director of The A.P., said in an interview that the news organization had decided that its letter to the Drudge Retort was “heavy-handed” and that The A.P. was going to rethink its policies toward bloggers.
The quick about-face came, he said, because a number of well-known bloggers started criticizing its policy, claiming it would undercut the active discussion of the news that rages on sites, big and small, across the Internet….
“As content creators, we firmly believe that everything we create, from video footage all the way down to a structured headline, is creative content that has value,” he said.
But he also said that the association hopes that it will not have to test this theory in court.
“We are not trying to sue bloggers,” Mr. Kennedy said. “That would be the rough equivalent of suing grandma and the kids for stealing music. That is not what we are trying to do.”
libhomo
2 years ago
Given the right-wing bias of the AP, maybe it’s better not to link to their content anyway. People should rely more on independent media.
What Goes Around
40 years ago
[...] across the masses and essentially turn into a full-on corporate crisis? I think the folks at The Good, The Bad, The Spin would [...]