Copyright is an area of the law that is changing rapidly. The law of copyright is there to protect intellectual property - the products of skill, labour, time and creativity i.e their creative WORK. It is important to remember that copyright doesn't protect IDEAS but the actual work as a result of those ideas.
The definition of copyright is
"the exclusive legal right, given to an originator or an assignee to print, publish, perform, film, or record literary, artistic, or musical material, and to authorize others to do the same."
Copyright is a MASSIVE part of journalism, it has allowed journalism as a business to grow, seeing as journalism exists as a business by selling information it attains. Journalists turn information into sellable facts by applying an angle or turning those facts into a story - that is protected by copyright. An originator can print, publish, perform, photograph and film material and authorise others to do so and it is only the originator who has that power over it, until they decide to sell it. Once they sell for a fee or wage that property no longer belongs to them but the person they have sold it to.
There are certain defences that a journalist has from breaching the laws of copyright. You will notice that in many newspapers reporters will take information from one paper and put it in their own. In order to do this they must fully credit the original source even if it is a rival paper. The rules of fair dealing allow this to a certain point.
Fair dealing allows a journalist to 'lift' certain facts from a story (for example, from another newspaper) in order to report 'current events' there are certain rules for this though. When looking at fair dealing it must be found that in order to be able to a lift another story from a newspaper without infringing upon copyright the story must be in the interest of the public, the work CANNOT be passed off as your own and the original source should be accredited and usage of the story must be fair. It cannot be greater that the originators.
Creative commons is another way to protect against copyright. It allows photographs etc to be used but a publisher must inform and credit the original source. Also, they must share profits if at any point they arise.
As with any other laws journalists may find themselves in trouble with from time to time. The most important thing to remember is to check... and then check again. Learn to recognise risk, and know what to do when it arises.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment