Copyright and Journalism
Résumé
With respect to copyright law, journalism has followed a somewhat different trajectory than some other works of authorship. In the case of newspaper articles, several factors help to explain this difference, including the material form of publication (early copyright statutes referred to books but not newspapers); the mutual reliance of newspapers, which often copied and translated articles from each other; the perceived ‘ephemerality’ and time-sensitive nature of news, which has repeatedly led publishers and agencies to seek a distinct property right in news; evolving attitudes toward what constituted literary authorship; and political convictions about the need for journalists to be able to quote freely from existing reports. Over time, copyright law expanded to include explicit protection for newspaper articles, but legislatures and courts also recognized the importance of permitted uses and principles of ‘fair use’ and ‘fair dealing’ to facilitate the work of criticism, review, and news reporting.
