28/04/2011MANAGING CHANGE IN JOURNALISM 1 Lets have some management-speak: Strengths Weaknesses Opportunities Threats Mike Holderness for EFJ in Helsinki:

28/04/2011 MANAGING CHANGE IN JOURNALISM

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Let’s have some management-speak: Strengths Weaknesses Opportunities Threats

Mike Holderness for EFJ in Helsinki: Authors’ Rights in the Digital Age

A Special Challenge for Freelances


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Strengths: Demand has never been higher Despite hype, journalism is still

needed: Probably, journalism is more needed

than ever due to the infoglut see the Pentagon leaks... and Freedom of Information stories

WikiWorld is not enough!




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Opportunities: In theory, journalists can cut out the

middle-person or middle-corporation Digital technology makes it easier to

track uses of freelances’ work In principle, digital technology makes a

‘royalty model’ or pay-per-view possible Using digital (‘social’?) media to

organise




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Weaknesses: Freelances’ bargaining position

All-rights contracts; Agence Amérique Presse

Lack of a good micropayment system The banks are in trouble too... who could run

one? Google? Apple?

Ease of copying Misconception that that what is easy must

be legal




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Threats: The exploiters of our bargaining position There are loud campaigns against the

idea that we or other authors should get paid: At WIPO: the geeks behind the blind;

wanting more exceptions to authors’ rights

In the EU: Google behind the libraries; extended licenses




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A necessary addition to the management-speak...

Myths The internet does not make authors’

rights irrelevant; on the contrary... Once upon a time there was an angry

young man with an angry blog...

Authors’ rights are essential rights of every citizen




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Campaign priorities, then: Defend the fundamentals of authors’

rights Press for clarification that collective

bargaining is legal Do some collective bargaining for

freelances Work out what this collective licensing

thing means... how to do it

Advice and education – for whom?




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Defend the fundamentals of authors’ rights (versus copyright) ‘Copyright shall be a property right...’

« L’auteur d’une oeuvre de l’esprit jouit... »

Même quelques jeunes Français(es) discutent

« copyright »

We can win the philosophical argument but does that mean winning the battle?




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Press for clarification that collective bargaining is legal Urhebervertragsrecht

Statute law encourages collective bargaining

Meanwhile in Ireland... Courts forbid collective bargaining

This gets the Commission’s attention...




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Do some collective bargaining for freelances Do we need statutory support? Local problems – for example copyright Needs to run in parallel with

propaganda Codes of best practice; Naming and shaming




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Work out what this collective licensing thing means... how to do it right Yet another challenge to some traditions

of trade unionism: we need to get involved in ensuring the collecting societies are democratic

Commercial precedent precedes law: see Google Books Settlement (or not)




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Challenges for journalists’ trade unions... Political lobbying and campaigning Collective bargaining

often without legal status Involvement in collective management of

rights and fair distribution of payment... ...and case-work, collecting unpaid debts ...and...




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Information and advice publicly available Raise standards Raise awareness (at expense of freeloading) Public rates surveys are (probably) legal See The Right Thing –

An Authors’ rights handbook for journalists in the digital age (EFJ, coming soon)




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Updating EFJ policiesParticipants at the seminar in Thessaloniki on Authors’ rights in a digital world: a fair deal for journalists

concluded the following:

1. That journalists’ authors’ rights, including moral and economic rights, must be strictly enforced in European countries where they are challenged, in order to maintain quality journalism. This principle shall apply to all media, including news produced online only;

2. That additional strict enforcement of moral rights, including the right of paternity and integrity, is crucial in the digital environment, not least to ensure that citizens have access to reporting that is known to be authentic;

3. That journalists must be able to retain their authors’ rights to be able to negotiate agreements;

4. That the lack of protection of authors’ rights in the terms and conditions imposed by social media on those who upload works jeopardises authors’ rights over that content;

5. That the EFJ will seek more dialogue and cooperation with consumers’ organisations to contribute to strengthening the protection of all creators’ intellectual property rights;

6. That there must be more transparency in the management and remuneration of authors’ rights;

7. That any collective management of journalists’ authors’ rights must be done by organisations representing a large proportion of authors;

8. That the imposition of unfair contracts on freelances must be put to an end and that freelancers must have the choice to join a union and benefit from collective bargaining;

9. That libraries and other institutions digitising protected content should carry due diligent search prior to making digitised orphan works available;

10. That a licence must be obtained in advance and paid for prior to digitising journalistic works;

11. That extended collective licences may be considered as a solution for digitising orphan works when managed by collective societies that represent a large proportion of authors;




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Further reading: www.ifj.org/en/pages/authorsrights www.londonfreelance.org/ar www.londonfreelance.org/

feesguide www.creatorsrights.org.uk



Documents

28/04/2011MANAGING CHANGE IN JOURNALISM 1 Lets have some management-speak: Strengths Weaknesses Opportunities Threats Mike Holderness for EFJ in Helsinki: