Information product must be protected

Tuesday, July 28, 2009

One of the sometimes confusing aspects of newspaper content is the use of stories and photos from the Associated Press (the AP). People sometimes refer to that content as "wire" stories or photos, though there's no wire involved and content from other sources might well be categorized as "wire" copy as well.

The Associated Press is actually a "news cooperative," a collaborative organization of news entities who are members of the AP. Not only does the Associated Press have staff or freelance writers and photographers around the world, but the organization also provides a means for newspapers to share stories from their areas with other publications around the world.

The Enterprise, for example, was a primary source of both stories and photos when the shuttle Columbia fell apart in the skies over East Texas in February of 2003. Our newspaper has played a similar role in other stories of national interest, including Hurricanes Rita and Ike. We don't have reporters in Iraq or Afghanistan, but the Associated Press does, so we know we can still give readers those important national stories.

As a member of the Associated Press, we, like other publications, not only provide content to the AP, we also pay dues, fairly substantial dues, for rights to publish the stories they provide to us.

As the number of Web sites, blogs, and start-up niche publications continues to grow, the use of stories created by member newspapers or Associated Press staff members also has spread. The problem is most of those Web sites and blogs and other publications aren't AP members. They aren't paying dues. They use the stories.

The same thing sometimes happens with stories from The Enterprise. We'll find a Web site, sometimes even a nice, non-profit, public interest Web site, posting our stories. We'll, politely, ask them not to do that. We do allow posting of the first two sentences and a link to the story on our site, but don't allow posting of the entire story. The Associated Press will also make the same request.

People don't seem to realize such information is copyrighted and they need permission to republish it. Sometimes we deny that permission. In the case of Web sites, we always deny that permission. Stories and photos that appear in The Enterprise belong to The Enterprise. They are newspaper property just as the trees in front of our building or the mat on the floor inside our front door. Similarly, Associated Press stories and photos belong to the Associated Press. Some bloggers or Web Site administrators don't seem to realize that stealing that content is a crime, a pretty serious crime.

The Enterprise, in fact, within the last couple of years, started an investigation into a regional print publication that was using our content, as well as that of multiple other newspapers -- and the Associated Press. The publication's owner, who was selling advertising to support his product, was mystified as to why we objected to him letting us do all the work on the stories, while he collected the money. He ended up in court, where his lawyer explained the law to him and he quietly walked away from a problem of his own creation.

This has become such a problem that the Associated Press this past week announced it is adding software to each article showing limitations to rights of use and notifying AP how the article is used.

According to a New York Times article, Tom Curley, the Associated Press' president and chief executive, when asked, agreed that stance goes farther in upholding its rights than ever before.

The article quotes Curley as saying, "If someone can build multibillion-dollar businesses out of keywords, we can build multihundredmillion businesses out of headlines, and we're going to do that." His goal, he said, is not to have less use of the articles, but to be paid for any use.

It's a development worth watching, both for those of us in the newspaper community, and for consumers interested in getting complete and accurate news.

Many people love 'their newspaper'

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

A caller left a calm but critical message on the Reader Representative phone line Sunday. The message ended with a bit of a twist -- "but I guess I still love you."

Some people might say the caller got confused about who he was calling. My choice is to assume that the caller actually does love us in spite of his criticisms.

That preference is based on other calls that come from our readers.

They frequently begin with criticisms -- of headlines, story choices, mistakes in the paper or our recent subscription rate increase. Just as frequently, those calls include the fact that they love their newspaper.

Many people feel an affinity for and ownership of "their newspaper." The Enterprise is the newspa- per that published their wedding announcement, their children's birth announcements and their parents' obituaries. They are emotionally invested in the content of the paper and feel completely justified in telling us how to run it.

We're glad they care and certainly listen to what they have to say. But we hope they realize that while they do have a voice, ultimately they don't get to make the tough decisions. We have legitimate business reasons for every decision we make. We recognize that sometimes those decisions are unpopular, but we still reserve the right to make them.

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Another item that sometimes comes into question is the publication of opinions in our newspaper. We publish readers' comments in two formats -- letters to the editor and selected comments posted on our Web site,

BeaumontEnterprise.comLetters must follow specific guidelines, among them inclusion of the writer's name. Comments posted on our Web site can, in contrast, be anonymous.

That apparent contradiction has not escaped our readers.

Reasons include the fact that published comments are generally substantially more limited than the 200- word cap imposed on letter writers.

Letters also tend to carry a bit more weight than the brief comments we publish and are much more likely to be published.

We print close to 90 percent of the letters we receive as compared to posting about 10 percent of the comments.

Comments are more immediate than letters and allow our readers to follow multiple points of view in the form of a discussion about a topic.

Although we, in theory, allow anonymous comments online, those commenters do have to be registered.

So, even if we don't publish the true origin of the comments, we are aware of that origin.

We also screen and sometimes, though rarely, delete comments that we deem particularly inappropriate from our Web site and would not include those in published comments.

As journalists, we are rabid about the First Amendment and freedom of speech. In that interest we strive, as much as possible, to allow both comments and letters that might criticize The Enterprise or be offensive to us or to some readers.

Conversely, we've had some callers say we make it too difficult to post comments on some material on BeaumontEnterprise.com

That difficulty is based on the fact that, in most cases, only registered users can comment.

That registration not only allows us to be aware of the source of the comments, but also prevents spam comments that would both bog down our site and irritate our readers.

The way we allow readers to speak their mind is just one of many things that has experienced dramatic changes in this ever-changing world of journalism.

Newspapers err, just like everyone else

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

One reader recently sent an e-mail complaining that we always seem to blame our errors on reporters and copy editors.

She noted, correctly, that the newspaper's leaders are the ones who should ultimately be responsible for making sure there are no errors in the paper. Actually, everyone who works here has a responsibility to keep errors out of the paper, but regardless, they still seem to happen.

The reason the errors are frequently attributed to a reporter or a copy editor is that they represent the beginning and the end of the progress of a story through the process of being published. Like the takeoff and landing of a plane, the beginning and end of the publication process are where most errors occur.

Our procedures are such that we assign responsibility for the mistake to the person who originated it. If a reporter spells someone's name wrong in a story, it's unlikely that the editor will question it unless it's either someone well known or a highly unusual spelling. Editors DO question facts and details. They do send reporters back to get more information. And, they do make mistakes. We all do.

Once the reporter and the editor or editors have finished with the story, it moves on to the copy desk to be put on a page. There the copy editor, under tight deadlines and fairly substantial time pressure, creates a page design, writes a headline and completes a final story edit. And sometimes mistakes happen.

We don't like that, but we accept it and we keep trying to do better.

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One of the other, unfortunately common but nonetheless frustrating errors we make is to publish something with XXs or blanks where information should appear. Or a line that says simply "headline" or "head goes here."

That happens because we frequently work with templated pages as a time-saver. The format is set up and some basic information exists on the template, so all our copy editors have to do is "fill in the blanks." That's fine, except when they leave those blanks . . . blank.

The use of XXs is, at least in part, a consequence of some bad judgment by journalistic predecessors. In fact, on some small papers, you might still see something like, "Some woman and her kids . . ." rather than names, because the plan was to fill the names in later.

More than one journalist has lost a job for making that line read something less flattering, like "stupid people doing stupid things" -- or worse. So, XXs are the option of choice when we're trying to fill in the blanks.

* * *

I've been working on a project that involves some information about journalism in general and newspapers specifically.

In researching details, I've run across multiple quotes and facts that seem particularly appropriate to the changing environment of today's newspaper.

So, if you run out of things to talk about over the dinner table or at your next cocktail party, try these profound thoughts:

"When all is said and done, what must be remembered is a newspaper is a business. It used to be a fabulous business that made extraordinary margins. It's now a very good business with appropriate margins."
Sam Zell, chairman and chief executive of Tribune Newspapers

"The Internet is the first thing that humanity has built that humanity doesn't understand, the largest experiment in anarchy that we have ever had."
Eric Schmidt, chairman and CEO of Google

"Newspapers cannot be defined by the second word -- paper. They've got to be defined by the first word -- news."
Arthur Sulzberger, Jr., New York Times publisher

Finally, a tidbit from a psychology textbook that says it all: "When Bill Clinton became president of the United States in 1992, there were about 50 sites on the Internet; today there are more than 135 million and still counting."

We aim to be available to our readers

Tuesday, July 7, 2009

Newspapers can be confusing places with an odd assortment of people each carrying out his or her particular duties. To the public at large seeking to speak to someone in authority, it can be a bit of a maze.

Please let me be your guide.

To begin, as I used to explain to school tour groups, many people think the editor is in charge of the entire newspaper. Actually, the editor runs the news and information portion of the newspaper and is in charge of the editorial department's daily and online content. That's a big enough job to do without having to actually direct all of the business of the newspaper.

The person actually in charge of the entire newspaper is the publisher.
In either case, even if you want to go straight to the top and talk to the man in charge, it's better not to start with either the editor or the publisher.

They both have assistants whose jobs it is to get problems solved, usually by directing a call to the person who actually might be able to resolve the problem.
In many, but not all, cases, that is the Reader Representative. At the very least, I can listen to your problem and, if I can't resolve it, I can try to point you in the right direction.

As a newspaper, we really do exist to communicate with members of the community. In many cases it's how we find some of our best stories.

In contrast, the Washington Post caused a bit of a stir in media circles this past week when publisher and CEO Katharine Weymouth was listed in a brochure as the hostess of "salons" in her home to allow lobbyists and association executives easy, non-confrontational, off-the- record access to reporters, and political officials, from Obama's administrators to members of Congress. That access would be available for a fee ranging from $25,000 to $250,000.

We all know that newspapers are exploring new ways to increase revenue, but even lobbyists were aghast at the prospect.

To be fair, I need to clarify that this information was posted on a political blog ( politico.com).I did, however, go on the Washington Post Web site to verify it. Not only are they admitting it, their Ombudsman (Post talk for Reader Representative) Andrew Alexander, has referred to it as "a public relations disaster."

Seems some employees in a new marketing department, who didn't check with the editor or anyone in the editorial department, decided the whole thing sounded like a good idea. They were very, very wrong.

The "salons" have been cancelled and the Post is trying to recover some of its credibility.

The bottom line in this discussion is we want our reporters to have access to you and for you to have access to them. That's why we put their names, e-mail addresses and telephone numbers at the top of every story they write. You don't have to pay for the privilege or even buy them lunch. They are doing their jobs.

If, however, you don't know exactly who to call, here are some additional contact numbers that can help you navigate the business that is your newspaper:

Circulation customer service, (409) 838-2818 or 1-800-891-3638;
Classified advertising, (409) 838-2888;
Advertising director, (409) 838-2819;
News (409) 838-2859;

Corrections, clarifications or questions, the Reader Representative, (409) 880-0748.

If we can help or you need to discuss something with us, give us a call. We won't even send you a bill for $25,000.

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Today is the anniversary of one of the days that seems to bring out people who want to have babies or get married on memorable dates.

Just two years ago it was 07-07-07 filling up wedding chapels around the world. Last year it was 08-08-08. I suspect this year, we'll have a bit of a flurry on 09-09-09.