The Noble Lie

Today, Associated Press takes the veil off their aggressive new program to stop what they call "Web News Piracy," a curious new term I've never heard before. What does this mean for the blogosphere? Spreading the news is a crime now? I thought that was the point of news.

I wonder if the "misguided, unfounded legal theories" that media mogul (and owner of the local Times-Standard) Dean Singleton refers to is the Fair Use Doctrine.

To prove that he isn't above walking off with somebody else's work, Singleton uses his very next sentence to crib the signature line from the classic movie Network, "I'm mad as hell, and I'm not going to take it anymore!" Ironically, Network is a great film about how the media dominates the national conversation, silences individual voices, and manipulates our perceptions.

From Associated Press:

AP board touts new effort to fight Web news piracy
April 6, 2009
By ELLIOT SPAGAT

SAN DIEGO (AP) — The Associated Press and the newspaper industry plan an aggressive effort to track down copyright violators on the Internet and try to divert traffic from Web sites that don't properly license news content, the AP board announced Monday.

The not-for-profit news cooperative also said it will cut fees by $35 million for U.S. newspapers in 2010 — on top of a $30 million reduction that took effect this year — and loosen its long-standing requirement for two years' notice to cancel AP service.

The financial moves are part of an overhaul of the AP's policies in the face of extraordinary financial hardship for newspapers. The changes were announced at the AP's annual meeting in San Diego, along with the copyright initiative launched by the AP's board, which is made up largely of newspaper executives.

"We can no longer stand by and watch others walk off with our work under some very misguided, unfounded legal theories," said Dean Singleton, the AP's chairman and the chief executive of newspaper publisher MediaNews Group Inc.

"We are mad as hell, and we are not going to take it any more," he added, prompting applause in the meeting.