I find it very interesting that the industry’s attorneys are fighting Google over copyright laws when rumor has it that so many newspapers plagiarize. When I learned that many articles that appear in one paper will also appear in many others and often times no content is changed, I was dumbfounded. We teach students that plagiarizing is wrong and illegal. Many people, not just students, have been penalized over the years for plagiarizing. Yet the papers grab articles from RSS feeds and may change a word or two and then slap a new author on the article and publish it. So, how does one fight over ownership of content when in fact it may not belong to them to start with?
The newspaper industry is definitely struggling. However, it could be easily rectified if the “good ole boys” that have been running it for years would take a look at some basic marketing. I would love the funding to redefine the industry. There is so much potential! Unfortunately, they want to continue running business they way they have over the past. Life has changed and they need to recognize it, embrace it and celebrate it. They need some fresh blood to take control and breathe life into it.
However, there are times that I watch the industry slowly dying and have to ask, is this part of some business/finance strategy? Do they not want to succeed? Will they get some tax break if they fail? Seems odd but stranger things have happened. I guess I just can’t imagine that an industry that has so much money and so many resources could fail on such a grand scale without some ulterior motive.
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So many ways to save the industry...fighting over ownership of content isn't one of them
I find it very interesting that the industry’s attorneys are fighting Google over copyright laws when rumor has it that so many newspapers plagiarize. When I learned that many articles that appear in one paper will also appear in many others and often times no content is changed, I was dumbfounded. We teach students that plagiarizing is wrong and illegal. Many people, not just students, have been penalized over the years for plagiarizing. Yet the papers grab articles from RSS feeds and may change a word or two and then slap a new author on the article and publish it. So, how does one fight over ownership of content when in fact it may not belong to them to start with? The newspaper industry is definitely struggling. However, it could be easily rectified if the “good ole boys” that have been running it for years would take a look at some basic marketing. I would love the funding to redefine the industry. There is so much potential! Unfortunately, they want to continue running business they way they have over the past. Life has changed and they need to recognize it, embrace it and celebrate it. They need some fresh blood to take control and breathe life into it. However, there are times that I watch the industry slowly dying and have to ask, is this part of some business/finance strategy? Do they not want to succeed? Will they get some tax break if they fail? Seems odd but stranger things have happened. I guess I just can’t imagine that an industry that has so much money and so many resources could fail on such a grand scale without some ulterior motive.