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The Associated Press has attempted to regulate the use of its articles in blogs. I believe that they are the first news organization attempting to regulate blogging by accusing that using article excerpts is infringing on the Associated Press's copyright.
The information in this blog posting was provided by a New York Times article. BTW- New York Times is one of 1,500 cooperative owners of the Associated Press. So, should I be worried about using quotes from this article?
The A.P. first chose to attack the Drudge Retort. They sent a letter asking the Drudge Retort to remove any quotations from A.P. articles that contained 39-79 words. FYI, that's not very many words. There was some backlash from bloggers arguing that this would "undercut the active discussion of the news that rages on sites, big and small, across the Internet" (17 words in that quote, whew).
I think that most blogs propel me toward future reading by hyperlink: news articles mentioned or other blog postings. I assume that many A.P. hits are directed from other sources other than Google searches, such as blog postings. Doesn't this benefit A.P.? Why don't they understand this? I'm starting to think that A.P. is a bunch of dinosaurs. My brain still can't comprehend the idea that the web wouldn't be copy and paste-able by all. The web in 2008 is fairly unregulated and thriving.
I have conflicting opinions:
*As a web/information lover and blogger, my thoughts are: information on the non-subscription websites should be freely available, accessible, and QUOTABLE.
*As a librarian, this concept intrigues me because I would like for my students to cite correctly in all zones, including research papers and blogging. Also, as a librarian, I consider myself to be an expert of Copyright and Fair Use.
Should bloggers have to start using citation styles (footnotes, parenthetical references, etc) to quote form news articles? Or are hyperlinks enough?
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9 RESPONSES TO "CRACKING DOWN ON ONLINE CONTENT: THE ASSOCIATED PRESS BECOMES A BUNCH OF DINOSAURS"
A blogging citation style would not be a bad idea. My main reason for saying that is that structured citation usually includes reference to the date the source was pulled. Although blogging is almost exclusively what's going on "now," I do get frustrated when I read through a blog, only to learn through linking that the blogger refers to a source that is grossly outdated.
This, of course, is not the issue with AP--but it does raise a good question about structured styling.
Amy,
This is interesting. Especially because online editions of NYT, WSJ, etc. almost encourage blogs to link to them.
They even interview bloggers as reputable sources.
Actually, it's the Drudge RETORT that was sent take-down notices from the AP. The Drudge Retort is not affiliated with the Drudge Report. This is an important distinction because people are saying that the AP is obviously going after the little guy, not any of the major players in blogging. IMO, the AP is making a huge mistake. Someone got their panties in a wad and thought they could take out their that's-too-many-words fury upon without anyone getting too fired up. Well, AP, bloggers are the media now. Get over it.
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Thanks for the correction, Holly. We've fixed it here.
--Your Brazen Editor
This is really interesting, I hadn't heard of it before. It seems like big media is trying to hand on to whatever piece of the media pie they can. Unfortunately, trying to turn new media into old media is not the answer. The AP would do much better if they tried thinking of new ways to present the news.
I apologize- it is Drudge Retort. Thank you to Holly for bringing it to my attention. Changes have been made in my blog.
I blame my Millennial-skimming self :)
Interesting news, I've been reading up on this story a little since it broke. I almost feel like maybe I'm failing to see AP's perspective on this. Their actions just seem ludicrous.
If this is purely an issue about credit, then I'm with Jeff Jarvis about AP needing to adapt to linking and quoting guidelines (which I think is the blogosphere's form of citations).
Fascinating stuff. I see Amy's point about hyperlinked references and the cross-promotion they encourage, but I think I may be leaning more towards the AP's position here. I think of it less as a cold and sterile copyright issue and more of an intellectual property issue. Somebody created something of themselves; what gives the world the right to reproduce it without asking and without giving full and proper credit?
Also--and I'm not trying to pick on you here Amy--that little "Drudge Report" vs. "Drudge Retort" thing is actually a pretty significant bit of irony. If bloggers want to be trusted sources of information, they really need to do a better job than "Millennial-skimming". A little slip-of-the-letter like that can do a lot of damage to a company and its reputation. I have the feeling that's the kind of the thing the AP is more wary about.
Sean- Actually, that's the first thing I thought of! Wow.. This blog was a great example of misguided/incorrect quotations/summarizations from a news article.
I was just trying to give my reader an "example." JK.
Credit should be given for any source used... but while it may infringe copyright to not do so, I see this issue as an author's ethical responsibility.. blogger or reporter.
On the other hand, to demand content be removed is simply the wrong move to make in our participatory culture. It is, as you alluded to, completely backwards.
Of course, the success of any news corp in the 21st century will be in its ability to break boundaries, to cut loose from old ownership paradigms.
Ryan, your point is exactly right...
APA, and others, could take a note from the book Wikinomics!
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