The New Cost of Blogging: Old Media vs. New Media

Written by Rob Hudson
Posted in General

You might not have noticed this happening over the last few years, but so-called "old media" or "Mainstream Media / MSM" (which is a total misnomer) is struggling against New Media (bloggers, online journalists and probably people like you). The Old Media fear dilution of their value by the hoards of online authors taking snippets or even entire articles and using them in derivative articles on third party sites. As is often true, there is SOME basis for their concern. Any "author" who uses significant pieces of another's work to serve their own purposes without providing a reasonable benefit to the source is essentially "stealing" value. HOWEVER, what constitutes value to the source is up for debate. A balance of "Fair Use" with reasonable attribution rather than excessive fees and blocking seems to make the most sense and serves society best. In fact, the wise new media company will eagerly promote the use of their work with appropriate attribution and link-back to build and maintain their audience reach. Sometimes this debate is downright humorous. That's what prompted me to share it with you. Exhibit A: WOOT & TechCrunch vs. AP