The Associated Press “Owns” Hot News

Interesting bit of news that exposes the kind of archaic thinking that’s helping contribute to the downfall of “traditional” media. A federal judge ruled that the Associated Press can sue All Headline News for stealing “hot news”. The AP claims that AHN is copying the AP’s headlines and news verbatim, without paying a syndication fee, and then reselling the news without any notice of where it came from. Which is wrong, of course. But what’s notable is that the Associated Press is basing its case on a 90 year old precedent that defines scoops as property, which is absolutely laughable in today’s world of instant communication.

TechCrunch explains:

Basically, the judge says the AP can try to prove AHN stole it’s “hot news”. But what constitutes “hot news” in an age of instant communications? And how long does it last. In 1918, “hot news” traveled by mail and telegraph. It could last hours or even days. Today, a true scoop lasts for about a minute. The AP would have to show instances of articles where not only the AP broke the news, but was the only outlet to get the original story—something rarer and rarer when anyone can publish news over the Internet.

It also raises some troubling questions. Is the AP going to start suing bloggers or news aggregators who take an AP headline and excerpt and rebroadcast it to the world, even with a proper link and attribution? And what happens when the AP is scooped by bloggers, which happens every day. Should bloggers sue the AP? Will people who break news on Twitter claim scoop status, and sue all the bloggers and news outlets who pile on afterward? It could get pretty messy.

TechCrunch: “Hot News: The AP Is Living In The Last Century”