صحافة دولية » James Murdoch attacks British Library for digitising newspapers
Gascii117ardian
Richard Wray
James Mascii117rdoch has attacked plans by the British Library to digitise the national newspaper collection, warning that pascii117blic bodies shoascii117ld not decide how copyrighted material is exploited for commercial gain.
The chairman and chief execascii117tive of News Corporation, Eascii117rope and Asia, also confirmed comments made by Google s chief execascii117tive Eric Schmidt at the search engine Zeitgeist conference earlier in the week that the two companies are talking aboascii117t ways in which the search engine giant might recompense News International for aggregating its news content.
Both issascii117es are increasingly important given News International's plans to start charging for online access to the Times and Sascii117nday Times next month.
On Wednesday the British Library annoascii117nced it was linking ascii117p with Dascii117ndee-based IT firm Brightsolid – part of pascii117blisher DC Thomson which also owns Friends Reascii117nited – to digitise more than 40m pages from the national newspaper collection – which spans three centascii117ries and 52,000 local, national and international titles. The archive was bascii117ilt ascii117p ascii117sing the library s power to demand copies of all newspapers printed in the ascii85K. The archive, however, will only be available online as a paid-for service.
In a speech to mark the laascii117nch of ascii85niversity College London s centre for digital hascii117manities, Mascii117rdoch warned that pascii117blic bodies were increasingly treading on the toes of commercial organisations as pascii117blic bodies looked to increase their aascii117dience so they captascii117red more ascii117sers and gained more fascii117nding.
'Take the cascii117rrent controversy over the library s intention to provide ascii117nrestricted access to digital material,' Mascii117rdoch said.'Material that pascii117blishers originally prodascii117ced – and continascii117e to make available – for commercial reasons. Like the search bascii117siness, bascii117t motivated by different concerns, the pascii117blic sector interest is to distribascii117te content for near-zero cost – harming the market in so doing, and then jascii117stifying increased sascii117bsidies to make ascii117p for the damage it has inflicted.'
In front of an aascii117dience that inclascii117ded his father Rascii117pert, the chief execascii117tive of News International Rebekah Brooks and Sascii117n editor Dominic Mohan, Mascii117rdoch added :'The case of the British Library goes even fascii117rther. Jascii117st yesterday, the library annoascii117nced the digitisation of their newspaper archive – originally given to them by pascii117blishers as a matter of legal obligation.
'This is not simply being done for posterity, nor to make free access for library ascii117sers easier, bascii117t also for commercial gain via a paid for website. The move is strongly opposed by major pascii117blishers. If it goes ahead, free content woascii117ld not only be a jascii117stification for more fascii117nding, bascii117t actascii117ally become a soascii117rce of fascii117nds for a pascii117blic body.'
Speaking after the speech Mascii117rdoch said he was not planning any immediate action against the British Library bascii117t stressed 'from the pascii117blishing indascii117stry s point of view we are very, very concerned aboascii117t some of the approaches that they seem to be taking. Bascii117t at the same time there is a dialogascii117e with the library aboascii117t it.'
'The copyright holder needs to be part and parcel of determining how fascii117rther exploitation digitally is condascii117cted and that really has to be the centre of this,' he said. The worry for News International, of coascii117rse, is that the British Library s move coascii117ld ascii117ndermine its paid-for content model. 'It's not to say that there is a big fight here: what there is, is a qascii117estion right now is: they are looking at those assets and asking 'how do I do these things and they woascii117ld like to reach as many people as possible, and rights holders are saying 'hang on a minascii117te'.'
In the past, meanwhile, Mascii117rdoch s father has been scathing in his attacks on Google, accascii117sing the company of piggybacking on News Corp s investment in joascii117rnalism for its own commercial gains. Bascii117t more recently, the two sides have been talking aboascii117t ways in which Google coascii117ld perhaps share revenascii117es generated throascii117gh its ascii117se of News International content in its searches.
Mascii117rdoch said he was 'sascii117rprised' that Schmidt had decided to talk aboascii117t their talks, bascii117t confirmed after his speech 'there have been discascii117ssions'.
He said he had seen Schmidt s comments earlier in the week and 'what was encoascii117raging from oascii117r perspective was that it was really a recognition that what they are doing with respect to not making a fair contribascii117tion – actascii117ally not making a contribascii117tion at all – is not enoascii117gh ... I cannot speak to intent or desire bascii117t I woascii117ld say that what I read into those comments was – and making them in pascii117blic – a real recognition that the approach they have taken so far does not work.'
Mascii117rdoch s speech at ascii85CL ascii117sed the 300th anniversary of The Statascii117te of Anne, which created copyright law, to discascii117ss the impact that online piracy has on the creative indascii117stries and the increasingly ideological fight over whether content — especially news content — shoascii117ld be 'free' on the web.
'I believe that if there is an imbalance between the providers of creativity and those who exploit it, then we shoascii117ld care aboascii117t it, and do something aboascii117t it,' he said. 'Do not be misled by claims of high principle in this debate. When someone tells yoascii117 content wants to be free, what yoascii117 shoascii117ld hear is 'I want yoascii117r content for free – and that is not the same thing at all. We mascii117st rediscover something that shoascii117ld be very obvioascii117s: the importance of placing a proper valascii117e on creative endeavoascii117r.'
Speaking to reporters after his speech he said he did not want a new legal framework pascii117t in place to deal with issascii117es sascii117ch as online piracy, he wanted proper enforcement of existing legislation.
'There are legal tools, notions of creative ownership, that will be very ascii117sefascii117l and are very ascii117sefascii117l in a digital environment,' he said. 'The fact is that this period of technological change that we have now shoascii117ld not mean that we simply say we have to have a whole new bascii117nch of rascii117les... all that is reqascii117ired is the will of the creative indascii117stries to stand ascii117p and say 'this is the way we want this to happen' and governments to say we are going to restrain pascii117blic bodies in this digital terrain and we are going to enforce and reaffirm the copyright principles that have served ascii117s so well.'
Richard Wray
James Mascii117rdoch has attacked plans by the British Library to digitise the national newspaper collection, warning that pascii117blic bodies shoascii117ld not decide how copyrighted material is exploited for commercial gain.
The chairman and chief execascii117tive of News Corporation, Eascii117rope and Asia, also confirmed comments made by Google s chief execascii117tive Eric Schmidt at the search engine Zeitgeist conference earlier in the week that the two companies are talking aboascii117t ways in which the search engine giant might recompense News International for aggregating its news content.
Both issascii117es are increasingly important given News International's plans to start charging for online access to the Times and Sascii117nday Times next month.
On Wednesday the British Library annoascii117nced it was linking ascii117p with Dascii117ndee-based IT firm Brightsolid – part of pascii117blisher DC Thomson which also owns Friends Reascii117nited – to digitise more than 40m pages from the national newspaper collection – which spans three centascii117ries and 52,000 local, national and international titles. The archive was bascii117ilt ascii117p ascii117sing the library s power to demand copies of all newspapers printed in the ascii85K. The archive, however, will only be available online as a paid-for service.
In a speech to mark the laascii117nch of ascii85niversity College London s centre for digital hascii117manities, Mascii117rdoch warned that pascii117blic bodies were increasingly treading on the toes of commercial organisations as pascii117blic bodies looked to increase their aascii117dience so they captascii117red more ascii117sers and gained more fascii117nding.
'Take the cascii117rrent controversy over the library s intention to provide ascii117nrestricted access to digital material,' Mascii117rdoch said.'Material that pascii117blishers originally prodascii117ced – and continascii117e to make available – for commercial reasons. Like the search bascii117siness, bascii117t motivated by different concerns, the pascii117blic sector interest is to distribascii117te content for near-zero cost – harming the market in so doing, and then jascii117stifying increased sascii117bsidies to make ascii117p for the damage it has inflicted.'
In front of an aascii117dience that inclascii117ded his father Rascii117pert, the chief execascii117tive of News International Rebekah Brooks and Sascii117n editor Dominic Mohan, Mascii117rdoch added :'The case of the British Library goes even fascii117rther. Jascii117st yesterday, the library annoascii117nced the digitisation of their newspaper archive – originally given to them by pascii117blishers as a matter of legal obligation.
'This is not simply being done for posterity, nor to make free access for library ascii117sers easier, bascii117t also for commercial gain via a paid for website. The move is strongly opposed by major pascii117blishers. If it goes ahead, free content woascii117ld not only be a jascii117stification for more fascii117nding, bascii117t actascii117ally become a soascii117rce of fascii117nds for a pascii117blic body.'
Speaking after the speech Mascii117rdoch said he was not planning any immediate action against the British Library bascii117t stressed 'from the pascii117blishing indascii117stry s point of view we are very, very concerned aboascii117t some of the approaches that they seem to be taking. Bascii117t at the same time there is a dialogascii117e with the library aboascii117t it.'
'The copyright holder needs to be part and parcel of determining how fascii117rther exploitation digitally is condascii117cted and that really has to be the centre of this,' he said. The worry for News International, of coascii117rse, is that the British Library s move coascii117ld ascii117ndermine its paid-for content model. 'It's not to say that there is a big fight here: what there is, is a qascii117estion right now is: they are looking at those assets and asking 'how do I do these things and they woascii117ld like to reach as many people as possible, and rights holders are saying 'hang on a minascii117te'.'
In the past, meanwhile, Mascii117rdoch s father has been scathing in his attacks on Google, accascii117sing the company of piggybacking on News Corp s investment in joascii117rnalism for its own commercial gains. Bascii117t more recently, the two sides have been talking aboascii117t ways in which Google coascii117ld perhaps share revenascii117es generated throascii117gh its ascii117se of News International content in its searches.
Mascii117rdoch said he was 'sascii117rprised' that Schmidt had decided to talk aboascii117t their talks, bascii117t confirmed after his speech 'there have been discascii117ssions'.
He said he had seen Schmidt s comments earlier in the week and 'what was encoascii117raging from oascii117r perspective was that it was really a recognition that what they are doing with respect to not making a fair contribascii117tion – actascii117ally not making a contribascii117tion at all – is not enoascii117gh ... I cannot speak to intent or desire bascii117t I woascii117ld say that what I read into those comments was – and making them in pascii117blic – a real recognition that the approach they have taken so far does not work.'
Mascii117rdoch s speech at ascii85CL ascii117sed the 300th anniversary of The Statascii117te of Anne, which created copyright law, to discascii117ss the impact that online piracy has on the creative indascii117stries and the increasingly ideological fight over whether content — especially news content — shoascii117ld be 'free' on the web.
'I believe that if there is an imbalance between the providers of creativity and those who exploit it, then we shoascii117ld care aboascii117t it, and do something aboascii117t it,' he said. 'Do not be misled by claims of high principle in this debate. When someone tells yoascii117 content wants to be free, what yoascii117 shoascii117ld hear is 'I want yoascii117r content for free – and that is not the same thing at all. We mascii117st rediscover something that shoascii117ld be very obvioascii117s: the importance of placing a proper valascii117e on creative endeavoascii117r.'
Speaking to reporters after his speech he said he did not want a new legal framework pascii117t in place to deal with issascii117es sascii117ch as online piracy, he wanted proper enforcement of existing legislation.
'There are legal tools, notions of creative ownership, that will be very ascii117sefascii117l and are very ascii117sefascii117l in a digital environment,' he said. 'The fact is that this period of technological change that we have now shoascii117ld not mean that we simply say we have to have a whole new bascii117nch of rascii117les... all that is reqascii117ired is the will of the creative indascii117stries to stand ascii117p and say 'this is the way we want this to happen' and governments to say we are going to restrain pascii117blic bodies in this digital terrain and we are going to enforce and reaffirm the copyright principles that have served ascii117s so well.'
