Media Law: Copyright

Ever since the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act of 1988, intellectual property has been protected from being used without permission. Over twenty years on, there is little material in the public domain that is not protected somehow by copyright.

Everything from books to films and from music to photographs that is original work has a copyright logo slapped on it somewhere. From a journalist's point of view, copyright gives them their license to write without danger of a story being stolen. On the other hand, it means that in order to do certain types of stories, copyright royalties can prove to be a right royal pain in the backside. Any music or footage owned and copyrighted by someone else must be legally bought and paid for, leaving the rightful owners with cartoon-like pound signs over their eyes as they imagine the money rolling in.

The value of a product rises due to its exclusivity. For example, the shots of Jonny Wilkinson's winning drop-goal against Australia in the 2003 Rugby World Cup Final is worth an awful lot of money purely because ITV had the exclusive rights to the tournament therefore affording them exclusive rights to footage of one of the most iconic images in English sport in the early part of the 21st Century.

Sports coverage is in fact one of the main danger areas of copyright, along with material from the internet and sites like YouTube. This is simply a nightmare for journalists: although classed as 'in the public domain' there are still strict copyright laws surrounding these areas making them a legal minefield. Photographs and film archive are also dangerous for journalists.

Despite the doom and gloom surrounding copyright, the issue of 'Fair Dealing' allows journalists to effectively 'lift' material from their rivals. This is only classed as fair dealing if a)the story is in the public interest, b)it is attributed and c)most importantly, it is 'fair'. As long as the main thrust of the story and quotes are accurate then a journalist can get away with fair dealing.

Crucially, this allows the wider reporting of news. Finally, it is acceptable to use footage/audio for criticism or review purposes providing someone talks over the top of it and if a famous celebrity dies, then it is also acceptable to use well-known clips from their career.

Award-Winning WINOL Still Lacking Journalistic Flair

Four weeks into the production of WINOL and it's about time I blogged on my thoughts on proceedings thus far.

All things considered the programme is now looking a lot more like a professional, well-rounded news and sport production. My role on the production team (and part-time presenter) has been a valuable experience and I have encountered many 'toils and snares' to quote a famous song lyric, all of which have furthered my education as a journalist.

The first week was always going to be riddled with cliches concerning rustiness and general lack of practise. To the team's credit, already by week two we were producing a bulletin that mirrored the standard that the third years reached at the end of last year. Similar standards were reached in weeks three and four, an effort praised by visiting guest editors from well-knows news corporations.

There are, however, a few minor issues to solve. Editorally, there appear to be few hard-hitting news stories with strong angles and pictures. Admittedly, Winchester is quite a sleepy town news-wise with only the odd parking issue rearing its ugly head now and again. On a positive note, it's good to see reporters working sequences into their packages and starting to eliminate the jarring GVs that smack of rushed filming and a general lack of pictures.

The sport team will always have the advantage of forward planning and has now reached the point where it can be creative and produce more entertaining news packages. It is easy for them to slip into a state of dependency on highlights rather than belt-and-braces news stories concerning sport. It would be nice to see a real sports news story rather than a procession of highlight reels.

The structure of WINOL is now easing the workload on the various departments. Consequently, the website now looks far more professional and eye-catching. The fact that content is pouring into the system is fantastic and, coupled with the drive to include more visual content (pictures and video), the website is now like a living, breathing organism compared to the asthmatic, forgotten runt of the litter it appeared to resemble a year ago. As a member of the production team, it's great to be able to come up with clever, pun-laden headlines when subbing a story.

Let's hope that by Christmas we can pull our socks up even further still and challenge for some serious student media awards. In my opinion, they can start engraving the trophy now. Here is the latest bulletin exclusively for your viewing pleasure.

Cameron Reveals Velvet Glove To Cover Iron Fist

Prime Minister David Cameron's announcement of the government's promise to push economic growth appears to have kicked the "spending cuts" political football into touch. With taxpayers set to bear the brunt of the Chancellor's axe, the promotion of something positive appears on the face of it, to be a handy distraction from the doom and gloom in the wake of last Wednesday's PMQs.

Mr Cameron's speech to the CBI promised an increase in funding for new businesses to work in tandem with the cuts, in a bid to balance the books in five years time. Has no-one else spotted the gaping hole in the Prime Minister's plan? Where is all this money going to come from?

The liquidation of several QUANGOS combined with the cutting of nearly half a million public sector jobs will free up a certain amount of money but to announce a brand new business initiative along with a proposed £30bn transport project smacks of a want to create a lasting legacy.

The plan to cut public sector jobs and recreate them in the private sector is surely going to have a detrimental effect on economics. It could potentially start another vicious circle of borrowing that plunged this country into its current economic woe.

On the other hand, the Prime Minister's transport plan is something that has been a long time in coming. Rising train fares and the drive to get more people using public transport (among other things) is something that desperately needs addressing. However, Mr Cameron was keen to stress that timing was vital in ensuring economic stability and perhaps his timing in announcing a multi-million pound investment in transport needs to come after the proverbial green shoots of recovery have begun to bloom.

I may be wrong. Hitler dragged Nazi Germany out of economic strife by creating jobs that updated and modernised infrastructure. Here's hoping the comparisons with the current UK administration end there...

(Picture: www.bbc.co.uk)

Borough Council Yet To Feel The Pinch

Nationally, the Coalition Government is announcing cut-backs in nearly every sector including their self-styled 'Bonfire of Quangos'. Yet, looking at the manifestos for my local government by-elections, it seems as if the tight purse-strings haven't quite reached the West Country yet.

While Mr Cameron's minions announce yet more funding cuts and job losses, it seems that party policy of all three heavyweights in Swindon is intent on investment rather than cutting back. The Conservative-led council has developed a reputation for doubling back on election promises (perhaps we should have seen this coming with child benefits). Over the last 18 months or so, promises to make the town a leading ambassador of the new green economy and plans to introduce a free wi-fi internet connection for all to name but two, have slowly slipped under the radar.

What will change under a new council? Everything, according to Labour and the Liberals but in reality, they will slide into obscurity and decide to blow the whole budget installing state-of-the-art traffic lights on a roundabout or something equally as pointless.

On a national scale, oh how these Liberal types have made me laugh over the last few days. Students in particular, the great champions of the liberal cause during the election, have angrily renounced their support for Mr Clegg and co after they appear to be sat twiddling their thumbs in the corner following Lord Browne's recommendation to increase student tuition fees. Well they did promise change didn't they? Just not quite what we were expecting...

(Picture: www.swindonclimate.org.uk)

Who Needs The National Lottery When You've Got Libel Laws

Defamation and subsequent libel cases are a constant pain for journalists. From my own experiences writing stories or scripts, I have realised how vital it is for a journalist to have their legal head screwed on at all times.

It was shocking to see an article in Monday's Guardian, revealing a 10-year high for libel cases in the UK. According to a leading law company, the 'weaker' defamation laws set the bar so low that defamation writs to the high court have increased by 15% in the past year alone and over the past 3 years, have nearly doubled.


These are frightening statistics and highlight precisely how easy it is to manipulate the libel laws in the UK. Is this however, just a sign of the world that we live in? Jason Lewis, a partner of the law firm Reynolds Porter Chamberlain says that libel action has increased because of the digital age and the huge data resource of the internet. Defamatory material can now be read or watched all over the world.

The Coalition Government announced in July that it will oversee a major overhaul of the libel laws in this country. The libel culture has become such an easy way to make money let's hope the powers that be don't renege on another of their promises...

(Article from The Guardian -http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2010/jul/09/libel-law-review)

Time To Hand Football Back To The Fans

This week a potential landmark court case will be heard over the issue of sports broadcasting rights. The issue surrounds a Portsmouth landlady who, in a bid to tackle rising costs, removed Sky Sports from her pub and replaced it with a European-based viewing card. As this is in breach of broadcasting rights, she has taken her 'freedom of trade' argument all the way to the European Court of Justice in a bid to secure fairer rights for all.

Sky paid £1.8 billion for exclusive broadcasting rights to the Premier League and it's understandable that these costs are now being passed onto the consumer. In a typical large-ish pub, the owner would expect up to 200+ customers on the afternoon of a big game. Compared to a typical household of 4 people then there is a significant increase in viewers from one source.

Sky's massive investment since the start of the Premier League in 1992 has pushed English football into a different era. For a long time they have monopolised the English market whereas their foreign counterparts don't. European broadcasters have no issues with their cards being used outside of a certain territory and this creates problems for Sky in particular.

However, it is about time someone stood up for the football fan in this country. Fans of other top flight teams around Europe can watch their team either on terrestrial or accessible satellite television but if they choose to attend games then they don't pay half their mortgage for a match-day ticket.

As a fan of a lower-league football club, I have never really been affected by multi-million pound contracts stopping me from watching my team. For a supporter of a Premiership side this could be the start of a whole new phenomenon. Let's hope for the sake of football in this country that we can start to watch world-class football at an acceptable, affordable price. Actually scratch that - why can't we go back to the 1960s when (in football terms certainly) everything was well with the world: World Champions, an open First Division championship and a world in which a defender could make a proper sliding tackle...

For more sports stories like this visit my sports blog at http://sportingtommytrebski.blogspot.com/

Top-Heavy Economics: Clegg's Cat's-Cradle

The last few months can't have been easy for Nick Clegg and his 'put-it-right' Liberal Party. After entering a coalition with the Conservatives many commentators and passing observers have eagerly pointed out who is 'wearing the trousers' in their seemingly uneasy relationship. While the press sharpen their knives for the slightest hint of division, it's hardly surprising that the Liberal party conference has highlighted a number of troublesome issues.

It's fair to say that both sides have baulked on political ideals for the sake of the coalition and the Liberals' decision to make immediate spending cuts have not evoked a positive reaction in the commons and further afield. While the Deputy Prime Minister talks of a positively Soviet 5-Year Plan for economic recovery, he has back-tracked on his election rhetoric which included not making cutbacks as a knee-jerk reaction to the recent economic crisis.

Cutting through the spin in his recent interview with the BBC's Nick Robinson, Mr Clegg spoke of ensuring that the timing of the defecit reduction be governed by economics. All well and good nailing your colours to that particular mast in times of manageable recession. Lord Turner today added further fuel to this raging bonfire by claiming that bank bonuses alone were not responsible for the banking crisis and that ill-designed policy had done more harm than individual greed. Is there not something strange about this announcement? It sounds like Lord Turner has told the stable hand to shut the gate after the horse has bolted. Then to add insult to injury, to suggest that the UK 'move on' from demonising overpaid traders is quite frankly an insult.

Earlier this week it was announced that thousands of high-ranking government officials and senior civil servants earning over £100,000 a year, with over 1,000 earning twice as much. Is it any wonder that this country is in such financial ruin. Surely there must be a way to curb these ridiculous salaries and bonuses. Otherwise what will have changed? The fat cats still pocket their millions while the coalition becomes the new scapegoat. Yes Mr Clegg, inject funding where it is so desperately needed but taxing the public just to give it back to them is not the way to go.

As public sector borrowing hits a record high, let's hope for the sake of economic parity that Mr Clegg can deliver on his promises of stability. Otherwise certain quarters will be calling Gerry Anderson to make the deputy PM the 6th Tracy brother...