Magazines Ireland
Press Release
13 February 2017
Members of the European Parliament will be voting over the next few months on a proposal of huge significance to publishers that will impact on the future of professional journalism and an independent media. As part of the controversial EU copyright reform, the European Commission has proposed a Publisher’s Right that would provide publishers with an important enforcement tool against unlicensed use of our valuable online content.
Magazines Ireland joins Europe’s leading Newspaper and Magazine Publishers’ Associations EMMA, ENPA, EPC and NME in welcoming the European Commission’s proposal. The Publisher’s Right would recognize publishers as rightholders in EU copyright law alongside other neighbouring rightholders in the media and creative industries. This would provide legal certainty for the benefit of press publishers large and small, making it clear that publishers’ content cannot be copied or reused for commercial benefit without their permission.
The coalition of publishers organisations said: “Those of us lucky enough to enjoy life under a democracy often take press freedom for granted. Yet it is that press freedom and the provision of 24/7 news, entertainment, sports, political enquiry and investigative journalism that underpins our democracy. Press publishers are doing something that is essential to protect. Breaking news or in-depth investigative reports, sports coverage or feature writing is not just popular to read and share across social media, but expensive and risky to produce.”
The coalition is calling on all the EU institutions to support this proposal.
Five reasons to support a Publisher’s Right:
Background:
On a daily basis, European newspaper and magazine publishers produce thousands of articles which, in the age of the internet, can be partly or fully copied, recycled and marketed by third parties within just a few seconds. Press publishers have long underlined the importance of being able to get a return on their investment in professional journalism, in particular, in the context of third parties’ commercial use of their products, in order to continue their important role of providing information, entertainment and opinion in our democratic society.
What remains certain is that the publisher’s right will have no impact on the freedom of the internet, in particular, on linking. All regular copyright exceptions, such as those relating to quoting, illustration, research and private copying, etc. will still apply.
Magazines Ireland
grace@magazinesireland.ie
EPC – European Publishers Council
Angela.Mills-Wade@epceurope.eu & Ann.Becker@epceurope.eu
ENPA – European Newspaper Publishers Association
EMMA – European Magazine Media Association
Max.Abendroth@magazinemedia.eu & joy.deloozc@magazinemedia.eu
NME – News Media Europe
wout.vanwijk@newsmediaeurope.eu
