Here we go. Both the Associated Press and Rupert Murdoch have thrown down gauntlets and are gearing up the legal rhetoric in what appears to be a desperate attempt to stop the bleeding that is going on in the news industry. In reality it will stir up a lot of fuss, make some money for some lawyers, and eventually prove to be last big noise before the big flame out that scorches the paper some of their products are printed on.
Some are calling it the last stand, and obviously I tend to agree. The A.P. and Murdoch are setting their sights, they say, on aggregators, Google, Yahoo, Drudge, etc… That’s where the money is. But I’m sure they’ll try to turn this into a battle over fair use. Remember when the A.P. tried to declare that five words were the limit of Fair Use? The big problem here is that Fair Use is pretty much well defined and enshrined, so in many respects I hope someone with some resources will actually test the limits here. That is a fight that nobody who buys ink by the barrel wants.
On the other hand, I’d love to see Google, Yahoo, Drudge (Report and Retort) and anyone else who is going to get tarred with the big brush just tell the A.P., Murdoch, and whomever will join their chorus, to take a hike and that they aren’t needed anymore. In many respects they aren’t needed and their day has passed by, being brought to a speedier conclusion than anyone ever imagined by the financial apocalypse that they helped bring about by not doing any real reporting on the warning signs that were pretty readily apparent in the period leading up to the big crash. If Google pulled the plug on linking to A.P. news items, I’m sure they’d cry foul.
The last time the A.P. tried to sing this song I said they were preparing to cut off their nose to spite their face. They are still looking dangerously close at the same scalpel. When they settled with the Drudge Retort over this issue they promised guidelines, which unless I missed something, they never delivered on. I don’t think any intrepid reporters did any follow up on this. As I said then, the real danger in moving forward with guidelines is that those who stand to lose the most are those doing the guide lining.
I also love the fact that the A.P.’s mouthpiece today actually used the now famous quote from Network, “we’re mad as hell, and we are not going to take it any more.” I hope someone from Paddy Chayefsky’s estate sues him for copyright infringement.
