If you wrote the words you own the copyright

At Poynter Paul Bradshaw asks a question with an obvious answer.


Paul Bradshaw: In the E-mail Era, Who Owns the Interview?


Obviously the person who wrote the words owns the copyright. Fair use allows the reporter to quote them. I can't imagine a lawyer advising or a court deciding otherwise.


And of course this highlights the fact that a lot of people help reporters and news organizations, without any hope or expectation of compensation. It's funny that none of these people are mentioned in the sad pieces that wonder if the news industry has a future. And no one seems to see an even more interesting question -- in the age of blogs, do we still need reporters? (I think we do, but not as much as we used to.)


http://bit.ly/4DSMGf