ABSTRACT
Over the past few decades, the contractual relationship between publishers and journalists, and indeed the landscape of journalism as a whole, has undergone a seismic sea-change. Newsrooms have become ghost towns as full-time journalists’ jobs have been slashed, and freelancers have stepped into the empty spaces. Although there is increased reliance on freelancers to produce ever more content, the industry has moved aggressively towards contracting schemes that grant publishers greater rights in freelancers’ work. Although unions and other groups have attempted to bring some balance to contract negotiations with publishers, winning some court victories in the United States, the overall balance of power still heavily favors publishers. In the European Union, steps have been taken to provide greater protection for journalists – but whether they will be effective is dependent on the way that Member States enact individual legislation, and remains to be seen.
Amerine, Mary Catherine, The Fragility of Freelancing: The Impact of Copyright Law on Modern Journalism (March 25, 2022) in The Subjects of Literary and Artistic Copyright (Enrico Bonadio and Cristiana Sappa eds) (forthcoming spring 2022).
First posted 2022-04-09 10:45:03
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