RTNDA is happy to introduce "Tough Calls" to rtnda.org - a feature geared at  starting a dialogue in the journalism community on those tough ethical or legal issues we sometimes encounter. With each edition of "Tough Calls," we encourage you to read briefly about the issue below, see what our guest panelists have to say on the matter and then offer your own opinion in the comments section. Thanks for participating.

This week's issue: Fair-use over a pornstar videotape

This week's guest panelists:  James Warner News Director WCSC Charleston, SC
                                                       Mark Willis Texas coordinator/RTNDA Sirius-XM


From news-press.com:  An interesting television imbroglio developed a week or so back involving the story of former Fort Myers Beach town manager Scott Janke and his porn-star wife, Anabela Mota.

Janke was fired July 21 when news leaked that his wife is a porn star who goes by the name Jazella Moore. The following Friday, the couple was in New York City where they were interviewed live on "The Early Show." That's the morning news program on CBS, seen locally on WINK-TV.

NBC2, the local NBC affiliate, videotaped the program and, later that day, used clips from the CBS interview in their newscasts.

WINK and CBS cried foul - arguing that was an exclusive interview on a copyrighted TV program.

NBC2 cited the "fair use" rule - a nebulous legal standing that allows certain, limited uses of someone else's material.

Click here to read the rest of the article

Our Panelists' Reaction:

James Warner - "I’m not a lawyer, so I can’t say one way or the other if this was a violation of Fair Use. I tend to agree with WINK’s Russ Kilgore’s comments. Following WBBH’s argument, any of us could grab anything off anybody’s air, or Web site for that matter, and use it.  We’ve dealt with this issue for years with sports highlights.

Honestly for me, there’s also the issue of journalistic pride. WBBH got scooped. We all do from time to time.  It stings. It’s maddening. It’s frustrating. Instead of taking somebody else’s work (or stealing their lucky break), channel that angst to go out and get the next big scoop in the life of the story. Move on! Get everybody talking about your scoop and your coverage, and they’ll forget the other guy’s!"


Mark Willis -  "I am a survivor in the news business.

I am thankful for that and very mindful of my role of reporting the news. But for many of my colleagues, they are not as fortunate. Many good news people have been handed their walking papers for a variety of reasons. Station financial pressures have forced many out.  Family reasons may be another reason why many news people move on cushy world of Public Relations. No journalist, however, should be forced out of a station due to poor editorial management decisions.
Poor management is what comes to mind in the case of the "rip and re-air video."

In dissecting the merits of this case, it does remind me of the fact taught long ago and that's the importance of establishing your own contacts when you take on the job of reporting news and make efforts for your station not to "become the news."  Overall, we have dropped the ball. Too often, I am reminded of the harsh economic realities stations are facing cutting back on personnel, cutting back on the number of shows and combining use of photographers.

Yes, it's a no-brainer and makes sense economically.  But if you are one of the newsroom survivors, take pride in your work. Create your own contacts and be a reporter.  Don't follow a developing trend in reporting that shows no signs of abating.
The station that decided to use the fair use provision and run a small bite of the CBS interview, was within the legal boundaries of reporting, in my estimation.

But it amounts to nothing more than laziness. Simply grabbing another station's tape and pretend it's their own, encourages reporter short-cuts and plays games with the audience, taking viewers for granted and telling them they're too dumb to notice the difference. Viewers do notice the difference.

Why do some stations encourage their reporters to enterprise stories, develop contacts and go out into the community to speak to the newsmakers? The station wants to win. The station wants to be a leader. Why do other stations, simply take the quick and easy way out and turn around and simply grab some other station's work? Laziness, that's why. Talent, research and hard work will always pay off. Not only for the reporter but for the station, as well.

Reporters, here is my message to you. If you're concerned about the short cut approach at your station and the liberties taken with your audience, run. There are many stations that are not willing to take the short cut approach, they appreciate you, your audience and the importance of what journalism really means. I hope you too, will be a survivor in the news business."

POST A COMMENT

Fair Use and the Stripper.

Not actually seeing how WBBH displayed the video clip in question, and with all due respect to my good friend Russ Myerson, I am going to come down, at least on the principal of Fair Use on the side of WBBH.
For clarification of my position, I am assuming that Channel 2 clearly labeled the source of the video, (and I would have insisted it be labled during the entire time it played!) and that it only used a small amount of the video, as little as necessary to communicate the essence of the story, which is a public official and his behaviour and how it is out of synch with the public personna he has typically exhibited.
The law in this area is not as "nubulous" as the newspaper article indicated. Fair Use is an important tool for all journalism organizations, but it is also one that should be used with the guidance of your First Amendment Attorneys.