World Copyright Day: What Is It And What Does It Mean For Journalists?
World Book And Copyright Day, celebrated on April 23, was first conceived by Valencian writer Vicente Clavel Andres to honor Miguel De Cervantes. Cervantes, author of seminal works such as Don Quixote, died on April 22nd, 1616. William Shakespeare also died on April 23rd, as did Inca Garcilaso de la Vega, leading UNESCO to officially recognize the day in honor of the authors.
UNESCO’s version of the day expands beyond just the books and authors. UNESCO uses the day to highlight three major sectors of the publishing industry–publishers, booksellers and libraries. On World Book and Copyright Day 2022, UNESCO called on its partners “to share the message that books are a force to address contemporary challenges, to understand political and economic realities, and to combat inequalities and misinformation.” It’s in that last call to action that journalists can find a purpose to organize under.
The economic reality is that times are tough. Inflation will cost United States households an average of $5,200 this year. Still, journalists are too often not paid for use of their work online because the circulation of information across the internet is largely uncontrolled. If you search for any news piece, chances are you will find it reproduced or hosted on other websites. Often, that hosting or reproduction has been done without the author’s permission and the hosting website is benefiting from work that is not theirs.
The International and the European Federations of Journalists (IFJ/EFJ) called on the European Union to act on World Copyright Day 2022. "Facebook and Google between them have monopolised the worldwide advertising market, wreaking havoc on the financial foundations of independent news reporting," the federations said. EFJ General Secretary Ricardo Gutierrez said that journalists were getting crushed in the EU because there was no ”national legislation [that] includes clear provisions to remunerate journalists for the use of their work."
The IFJ/EFJ suggested amendments to the Directive on Copyright and related rights in the Digital Single Market, including urging several states in the EU to take up the directive. They also recommended stricter laws surrounding copyright when it comes to the individual journalists’ share in the work if the newsroom they work for negotiates with a tech giant.
Journalists must call on local and state governments to act and protect intellectual property disseminated online.
"It is journalists who need to be supported in the service we provide to society. The worldsʼ populations cannot benefit from independent, professional journalism unless actual journalists can make an independent, professional living,” said IFJ General Secretary Anthony Bellanger.
Without further protections for journalists’ material, and more direct legislation controlling and disciplining the flow and theft of intellectual property around the internet, journalists will continue to struggle.
