Whirled threatens BatesLine (Corrupt Tulsa paper sics lawyers on Blog for LINKING articles)

Batesline ^ | February 15, 2005 | Michael D. Bates

[Stoat]

Whirled threatens BatesLine

NOTE to those of you who normally skip the Tulsa stuff here: Please read this entry. This is not just about the sordid little world of Tulsa politics. This is the old media trying to intimidate their critics in the new media into silence. It has repercussions for any blogger engaged in media criticism. It strikes at the heart of what blogs do. I'd appreciate your help in putting the blogosphere's spotlight of shame on this legal threat.

Tulsa City Councilor Chris Medlock wasn't the only one to get a special valentine from our friends at the Tulsa Whirled. The Vice-President [sic] of the Tulsa World has threatened legal action against me for "reproduc[ing] (in whole or in part) articles and/or editorials" and for "inappropriately link[ing my] website to Tulsa World content." ("World" is the legal name, although here at BatesLine we call it the Whirled, in the spirit of Private Eye's renaming of the Guardian as the Grauniad.)

Here's the actual letter (click to enlarge):

Here's the text of the letter:

Dear Mr. Bates:

I am writing on behalf of World Publishing Company, publisher of the Tulsa World. We have recently learned that your website, www.Batesline.com, has reproduced (in whole or in part) articles and/or editorials from the Tulsa World newspaper or has inappropriately linked your website to Tulsa World content.

The Tulsa World copyrights its entire newspaper and specifically each of the articles and/or editorials at issue. The reproduction of any articles and/or editorials (in whole or in part) on your website or linking your website to Tulsa World content is without the permission of the Tulsa World and constitutes an intentional infringement of the Tulsa World's copyright and other rights to the exclusive use and distribution of the copyrighted materials.

Therefore, we hereby demand that you immediately remove any Tulsa World material from your website, to include unauthorizedlinks to our website, and cease and desist from any further use or dissemination of our copyrighted content. If you desire to use (in whole or in part) any of the content of our newspaper, you must first obtain written permission before that use. If you fail to comply with his demand, the Tulsa World will take whatever legal action is necessary to assure compliance, Additionally, we will pursue all other legal remedies, including seeking damages that may have resulted as a result of this infringement.

We look forward to your immediate response and cooperation in this matter. Please acknowledge your compliance by signing below and returning to me.

Sincerely,

(signed)
John R. Bair
Vice-President [sic]
Tulsa World
 

 

As I wrote regarding the same letter sent to Councilor Medlock, excerpting copyrighted material for the purpose of criticism is covered by the fair use exemption, and linking to content cannot be a copyright violation because nothing is actually copied. The threat is empty, an attempt at using intimidation to silence my criticism of their editorials and news coverage.

Why would a big ol' daily paper, with over 100,000 daily circulation, send a nastygram like this to someone who gets about 1,000 visits a day? And why now? Here's a little background, especially for you out-of-towners:

The Tulsa World has been the only daily newspaper in town since September 30, 1992, when its publisher refused to renew its half-century-old Joint Operating Agreement with the Tulsa Tribune then bought the Tribune and shut it down.

The World is more than just an observer of the local scene. It is an integral part of the tight social network that has run local politics for as long as anyone can remember. This network, which I have dubbed the Cockroach Caucus, has pursued its own selfish interests under the name of civic progress, with disastrous results for the ordinary citizens of Tulsa and its metropolitan area. The World, and the way it wields its influence in the community, bears a strong resemblance to the Dacron Republican-Democrat, the fictional subject of the National Lampoon Sunday Newspaper Parody.

The Cockroach Caucus is most recently infamous for convincing state and local elected officials to pour $47 million in public funds into Great Plains Airlines. This airline promised to provide non-stop jet service between Tulsa and the coasts, but in the end was not much more than the Mrs. Grace L. Ferguson Airline and Storm Door Co. It went bankrupt, leaving local taxpayers liable for millions in loan guarantees. Many leading lights of the Cockroach Caucus, including World Publishing Company, were investors in Great Plains Airlines.

The Cockroach Caucus has wasted tens of millions in public funds on failed economic development strategies, at a time when tens of thousands of Tulsa high-tech workers had lost their jobs, ignored the plight of small business, and has bent and sometimes broken the rules of the land use planning system to favor those with political and financial connections. The same small number of connected insiders circulates from one city authority, board, or commission to another, controlling city policy, but beyond the reach of the democratic process.

Many people in this city are fed up with the World and its allies. For the first time, in Tulsa's March 2004 municipal elections, Tulsa's voters elected a bipartisan majority of councilors who were not endorsed by the newspaper, five councilors committed to reforming city government so that it serves the interests of all Tulsans, not just a favored few. Alternative media outlets played a significant role in helping these reform councilors get their message out and win election -- principally, Talk Radio 1170 KFAQ; the Tulsa Beacon, a conservative weekly newspaper; and this blog. These same sources continue to subject the World's content to critical review on a daily basis. Now all three of us have received some sort of threatening letter from the World.

The empire is striking back. Leading a broader Cockroach Caucus effort, the World has engaged in a sustained campaign in its news pages and editorial pages against the reformers, painting them in the worst possible light. Two of the five-member Reform Alliance majority on the Council, Republicans Jim Mautino and Chris Medlock, have been targeted for recall from office by a shadowy group calling itself the Coalition for Responsible Government 2004. No criminal wrongdoing or negligence is alleged -- they are being targeted because they have voted the "wrong way". They have pursued reforms and investigations that the Cockroach Caucus seems to find threatening to its interests. (The Coalition for Responsible Government used copyrighted World photographs and articles in the Tulsa Tribunal, crypto-racist smear tabloids targeting Mautino and Medlock, but have apparently faced no similar threats from the World.)

The deadline for the submission of recall petitions is this week. I believe the World is hoping to silence alternative low-budget media voices as the recall campaign proper gets underway, so as to create a clear channel for the pro-recall campaign, which will continue to have the tacit support of the World alongside a massive paid-media campaign.

I am not concerned for myself. I believe I have respected the World's copyrights within the fair-use exemption. Let the World name the specific articles in which it alleges that I have exceeded fair use. I have violated no law by directing readers to the Tulsa World's own website to read the Tulsa World's own content as the World itself presents it. I am seeking legal advice for dealing with the matter.

The World deserves the scorn and ridicule of the blogosphere for using bullying tactics against its critics. Let's give it to 'em.

TRACKBACKS: Thanks to fellow bloggers who are showing their support. Click on the links to read all that they have to say on the matter.

Joe Carter of evangelical outpost asks "Did someone at the WPC lose their mind? ... It takes a special brand of idiot to bully a guy with a megaphone. But you have to be a world class moron to push someone around who has thousands of compatriots with megaphones."

Ace writes "the next phase in this battle [between new and old media] is nonstop legal harassment. They've had a monopoly for 50 years and they're not giving it up without a fight... or at least without calling in their lawyers."

Kevin of the Primary Main Objective knows the World and says they're worthy of contempt rather than pity.

Matt of Nerf-Coated World provides some guidelines for bloggers on fair use.

Scott Sala of Slant Point asks "Does the paper intend to only sell its news to those who like what it has to say? Will conversations on the street condeming the paper now be monitored, and those individuals barred from buying future copies?"

Dan Lovejoy calls the World a "fossilized fecolith of the dinomedia."

Charles G. Hill gets to the heart of the local political situation and the World's part in it:

If it weren't so pathetic, it would almost be tragic. There are many cities like Tulsa, where a favored few seek to maximize their profits at the expense of everyone else; what makes Tulsa different is the World, which evidently would rather be a conspirator than a crusader. The people of Tulsa are the poorer for it.

Top-ten blogger and columnist Michelle Malkin reacts to the World's attack: "Can you spell U-N-H-I-N-G-E-D?" And she hit my PayPal tip jar! Thanks!

Thanks to all of my "compatriots with megaphones." Watch this space as more bloggers pick up the story.

UPDATE 9:14 AM: Ironically, I didn't link to the Tulsa World's website anywhere in this entry. That was unintentional (subconsciously trying to protect myself?) but I've fixed it with a link up near the top. Wouldn't want anyone thinking I'm scared.Posted by Michael at February 15, 2005 12:01 AM | TrackBack
 

Listed below are links to weblogs that reference 'Whirled threatens BatesLine' from BatesLine.

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http://WWW.JESSICASWELL.COM/MT/archives/001891.html
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Tracked: February 15, 2005 02:07 PM

[2Jedismom]

i went on a field trip with my son's boy scout troop to the Tulsa World. Walking through the news department, I was almost unable to restrain myself from a verbal outburst.

Then the tour guide pointed out a hugh roll of unprinted newspaper...I mean, a gigantic roll of paper. He laughed and said "It looks like a big roll of toilet paper, doesn't it?"

Oh my lands, it was all I could do not to blurt out that it looks like toilet paper to me when it's in the newsstand!

[gidget7]

unless you get a liberal judge...




Were this the NYT or the Boston Globe, you definately don't want their Judges. And Their Judges is what they are too. These two papers got a SCJ on the bench!

Sound like you have a paper like these. Must really suck to get cut down to size!!! Keep up the good work!

[okie01]

The empire strikes back ping...

[Maynerd]

The Tulsa World is another example of lefty boomers taking over and destroying an institions (universities and media are the favorite targets).

The World was a conservative paper in a conservative town until the 1990's. It has currently evolved into a hopelessly biased liberal rag. Yet the vast majority of its subscribers and readers are red blooded conservatives. Go figure.

I hope the Bates blog hounds the World relentlessly. Power to the people.

[dirtboy]

The empire strikes back ping...

I took the daughter of the publisher for the Tulsa Tribune to my senior prom. So I take Tulsa World dirty tricks personally, seeing how the screwed the Tribune, a fine newspaper, out of existence.

[pepperdog]

This is ridiculous. You can Google up the Tulsa World, do they want to be removed from Google? Maybe they should just take down their web site. I don't get it, seems to me a newspaper would want all the readers they could get. I guess they just want like minded readers.

[King Prout]

reproducing content is one thing. copyright law is pretty clear on it, irrespective of "fair usage" of excerpts

linking is quite another matter. on this issue, the Whirled has no leg to stand on. I used to be involved freelance with a large multinational firm as part of their RM and B&RC division, doing web-copping. I know from experience and for a fact that the Whirled will lose on the links. Period.

[Semolina Pilchard]

While everyone gets up in arms about the paper's demand to cease linking -- which is obviously goofy -- it's worth noting that the paper is also accusing the blogger of reproducing its material ("in whole or in part").

If you haven't yourself seen the material in question, then you're simply rushing to judgment in assuming the blogger is right and the paper is wrong. I know I haven't seen the material in question, so I have no basis on which to form an opinion.

I do know, though, that if the blogger was indeed reproducing entire Tulsa World articles, or reproducing them to an extent unprotected by a fair-use claim, then he is guilty of copyright infringement.

I realize there are many Free Republic users who believe there's nothing wrong with republishing copyrighted content in its entirety. That's quite clear. But if a content owner wishes to protect his copyright, it's certainly his legal and moral right to do so. The Washington Post and Los Angeles Times, obviously, are among those who have sought to defend their copyrights here. Others, obviously, have not. Intellectual property infringement is (typically) a civil and not criminal matter. Pursuing a claim is entirely the prerogative of a copyright holder.

Tulsa World may very well be engaged in its own legally and morally defensible protection of its copyrights. Until we know the extent of the blogger's reproduction -- or if there was reproduction at all -- then it seems wise to withhold judgment.

[PGalt]

Thanks for all of your work Michael D. Bates.

[Tulsa Brian]

The Tulsa World makes me SICK.

You, me and everyone else with more than a room-temperature I.Q., schweetie... ;-)

[E.G.C.]

BTTT!!!!!!

[RoseD]

Sent a message to the daily oklahoman with the url. Always nice to know when the competition is making and
A-$$ of themselves. :-)

[Osage Orange]

I know I haven't seen the material in question, so I have no basis on which to form an opinion.

I have a bias...and a basis to form an opinion. The Tulsa Squirrel is one of the most Socialist Leftist Marxist Good 'Ol Boy Democrat fish wraps in the whole country..!!

And it doesn't surprise me one bit...that they would try and bully silence someone from criticizing their cozy little operation in the city of Tulsa.

FWIW-