28/04/2011MANAGING CHANGE IN JOURNALISM 1 Lets have some management-speak: Strengths Weaknesses Opportunities Threats Mike Holderness for EFJ in Helsinki: Authors Rights in the Digital Age A Special Challenge for Freelances

28/04/2011MANAGING CHANGE IN JOURNALISM 2 Strengths: Demand has never been higher Despite hype, journalism is still needed: Probably, journalism is more needed than ever due to the infoglut see the Pentagon leaks... and Freedom of Information stories WikiWorld is not enough! Mike Holderness for EFJ in Helsinki: Authors Rights in the Digital Age A Special Challenge for Freelances

28/04/2011MANAGING CHANGE IN JOURNALISM 3 Opportunities: In theory, journalists can cut out the middle-person or middle-corporation Digital technology makes it easier to track uses of freelances work In principle, digital technology makes a royalty model or pay-per-view possible Using digital (social?) media to organise Mike Holderness for EFJ in Helsinki: Authors Rights in the Digital Age A Special Challenge for Freelances

28/04/2011MANAGING CHANGE IN JOURNALISM 4 Weaknesses: Freelances bargaining position All-rights contracts; Agence Amérique Presse Lack of a good micropayment system The banks are in trouble too... who could run one? Google? Apple? Ease of copying Misconception that that what is easy must be legal Mike Holderness for EFJ in Helsinki: Authors Rights in the Digital Age A Special Challenge for Freelances

28/04/2011MANAGING CHANGE IN JOURNALISM 5 Threats : The exploiters of our bargaining position There are loud campaigns against the idea that we or other authors should get paid: At WIPO: the geeks behind the blind; wanting more exceptions to authors rights In the EU: Google behind the libraries; extended licenses Mike Holderness for EFJ in Helsinki: Authors Rights in the Digital Age A Special Challenge for Freelances

28/04/2011MANAGING CHANGE IN JOURNALISM 6 A necessary addition to the management-speak... Myths The internet does not make authors rights irrelevant; on the contrary... Once upon a time there was an angry young man with an angry blog... Authors rights are essential rights of every citizen Mike Holderness for EFJ in Helsinki: Authors Rights in the Digital Age A Special Challenge for Freelances

28/04/2011MANAGING CHANGE IN JOURNALISM 7 Campaign priorities, then: Defend the fundamentals of authors rights Press for clarification that collective bargaining is legal Do some collective bargaining for freelances Work out what this collective licensing thing means... how to do it Advice and education – for whom? Mike Holderness for EFJ in Helsinki: Authors Rights in the Digital Age A Special Challenge for Freelances

28/04/2011MANAGING CHANGE IN JOURNALISM 8 Defend the fundamentals of authors rights (versus copyright) Copyright shall be a property right... « Lauteur dune oeuvre de lesprit jouit... » Même quelques jeunes Français(es) discutent « copyright » We can win the philosophical argument but does that mean winning the battle? Mike Holderness for EFJ in Helsinki: Authors Rights in the Digital Age A Special Challenge for Freelances

28/04/2011MANAGING CHANGE IN JOURNALISM 9 Press for clarification that collective bargaining is legal Urhebervertragsrecht Statute law encourages collective bargaining Meanwhile in Ireland... Courts forbid collective bargaining This gets the Commissions attention... Mike Holderness for EFJ in Helsinki: Authors Rights in the Digital Age A Special Challenge for Freelances

28/04/2011MANAGING CHANGE IN JOURNALISM 10 Do some collective bargaining for freelances Do we need statutory support? Local problems – for example copyright Needs to run in parallel with propaganda Codes of best practice; Naming and shaming Mike Holderness for EFJ in Helsinki: Authors Rights in the Digital Age A Special Challenge for Freelances

28/04/2011MANAGING CHANGE IN JOURNALISM 11 Work out what this collective licensing thing means... how to do it right Yet another challenge to some traditions of trade unionism: we need to get involved in ensuring the collecting societies are democratic Commercial precedent precedes law: see Google Books Settlement (or not) Mike Holderness for EFJ in Helsinki: Authors Rights in the Digital Age A Special Challenge for Freelances

28/04/2011MANAGING CHANGE IN JOURNALISM 12 Challenges for journalists trade unions... Political lobbying and campaigning Collective bargaining often without legal status Involvement in collective management of rights and fair distribution of payment......and case-work, collecting unpaid debts...and... Mike Holderness for EFJ in Helsinki: Authors Rights in the Digital Age A Special Challenge for Freelances

28/04/2011MANAGING CHANGE IN JOURNALISM 13 Information and advice publicly available Raise standards Raise awareness (at expense of freeloading) Public rates surveys are (probably) legal See The Right Thing – An Authors rights handbook for journalists in the digital age (EFJ, coming soon) Mike Holderness for EFJ in Helsinki: Authors Rights in the Digital Age A Special Challenge for Freelances

28/04/2011 MANAGING CHANGE IN JOURNALISM 14 Updating EFJ policies Participants at the seminar in Thessaloniki on Authors rights in a digital world: a fair deal for journalists concluded the following: 1. That journalists authors rights, including moral and economic rights, must be strictly enforced in European countries where they are challenged, in order to maintain quality journalism. This principle shall apply to all media, including news produced online only; 2. That additional strict enforcement of moral rights, including the right of paternity and integrity, is crucial in the digital environment, not least to ensure that citizens have access to reporting that is known to be authentic; 3. That journalists must be able to retain their authors rights to be able to negotiate agreements; 4. That the lack of protection of authors rights in the terms and conditions imposed by social media on those who upload works jeopardises authors rights over that content; 5. That the EFJ will seek more dialogue and cooperation with consumers organisations to contribute to strengthening the protection of all creators intellectual property rights; 6. That there must be more transparency in the management and remuneration of authors rights; 7. That any collective management of journalists authors rights must be done by organisations representing a large proportion of authors; 8. That the imposition of unfair contracts on freelances must be put to an end and that freelancers must have the choice to join a union and benefit from collective bargaining; 9. That libraries and other institutions digitising protected content should carry due diligent search prior to making digitised orphan works available; 10. That a licence must be obtained in advance and paid for prior to digitising journalistic works; 11. That extended collective licences may be considered as a solution for digitising orphan works when managed by collective societies that represent a large proportion of authors; Mike Holderness for EFJ in Helsinki: Authors Rights in the Digital Age A Special Challenge for Freelances

28/04/2011MANAGING CHANGE IN JOURNALISM 15 Further reading: Mike Holderness for EFJ in Helsinki: Authors Rights in the Digital Age A Special Challenge for Freelances