Christopher Kenneally is director, business development, at Copyright
Clearance Center, and host of CCC’s podcast series “Beyond the Book”.
measure is meant to provide “a legal wrapper
around what is made available [online] by the
publisher,” Mills Wade explained. “They are
neighbouring rights because they sit alongside
the underlying rights of the authors.
“Broadcasters, music and film producers
already benefit from a neighbouring right at
the European level, so this is to bring press
publishers in line with other producers of
content,” she noted.
Under the European Commission proposal
published in September 2016, press publishers
would gain additional control over any re-use
of content, including for terms and conditions
of the re-use. For example, a news organisation
could require a web aggregator to obtain a
licence before re-publishing content in an
online news digest.
“You might read in some articles that this is
‘a tax’ and that it is going to make platforms
and search engines pay for the re-use of
content,” Mills Wade said. “There’s nothing in
the proposal that mandates how any licence
agreement would be established and who pays
or how much is paid. It’s really about giving
clarity in the market to the standing of
publishers,” she insisted. “It’s been all too easy
for aggregators or other companies to help
themselves to publishers’ content and reuse it
without permission.”
As they consider the copyright directive,
In her advocacy for the new neighbouring right for
publishers, Mills Wade points out that quality journalism is
potentially at risk. Like writing and publishing books, she said,
news reporting requires significant outlays of resources, often
long before any publication.
“If publishers who are employing professionally-trained
journalists can’t afford to fund everything from foreign war-torn
reporting to very local correspondence, it matters a lot,” said Mills
Wade. “Professional companies, employing professional
journalists who have rights, but also responsibilities–that’s what
makes a difference when you’re calling governments to account.” ■
Journalists and pundits have plenty to keep
them busy in 2017. In Europe alone, there are
Brexit, the rise of populism and nationalism, as
well as immigration issues to cover. The rise of
so-called “fake news”, and growing scepticism
about professional journalism and intellectual
property rights only make matters worse.
The European Publishers Council (EPC) is a
lobbying group composed of executives from
leading European media organisations. Based
in Brussels, Belgium, home of the European
Commission and numerous European Union
government bodies including the European
Parliament, the EPC reviews the impact of
proposed European legislation on news
publishing, newspapers and journalism, and
then expresses its collective opinion to
legislators, politicians and opinion leaders.
Such a task is hardly either a simple or
straightforward one in 2017–and certainly not
for the EU, nor the press as an institution. As
EPC executive director, Angela Mills Wade
must take on the notoriously elaborate, even
labyrinthine EU on the side of the media
business. In a recent interview with me for
Copyright Clearance Center (CCC)’s podcast
series “Beyond the Book”, she provided a
shorthand recipe for sausage-making at the
European Parliament.
“Getting your voice heard and influencing
the course of legislation is no mean feat
because it’s so multifaceted,” Mills Wade explained.
Nevertheless, she considers the 751-member European
Parliament “a very open” organisation. “So normally speaking,
it’s not difficult to meet the members who are taking decisions
about your future through pieces of legislation. But on very
controversial issues like copyright reform,” she noted, “it’s very
crowded, so there are many, many people seeking the time and
attention of the members.”
Currently under review in Brussels is a European “directive”
on copyright that aims to “achieve a well-functioning
marketplace for copyright and the equitable sharing of the
value generated by the new forms of online content”. The new
directive would replace one in force since 2001.
Neighbouring right
Among the proposed measures is for a new “related” right that,
says the legislation, would put news publishers “in a better
negotiating position when they contract with online services
using and enabling access to their content and thus to better
fight piracy”. Also called a “neighbouring right”, the new
Christopher Kenneally talked to Angela Mills Wade about what the new
European directive on copyright means for news publishers
Angela Mills Wade
“Like writing
and publishing
books, news
reporting
requires
significant
outlays of
resources, often
long before any
publication.”
– Angela Mills
Wade