All rights to the publishers?
Internet copyrights and the cooperation of publishers jeopardize the rights of journalists to their works.
was recently targeted by the trade union Impressum. The reason was the
Circulation of a copyright contract. Freelance journalists and
Journalists should transfer all rights to their works to the
Publishing Group and waive any claims to remuneration.
In addition, SOM also wanted to use the contract to secure the right to
ensure that the works are passed on to third parties. For freelance journalism
in the far-reaching sphere of influence of the monopolist in the canton of Graubünden
this would have meant the certain end. Meanwhile, the
Matter as a storm in a teacup - the reason for the excitement is
according to those responsible, a misunderstanding in the
personnel department. The contents of contracts for freelance
Media professionals and permanently employed editors
really mixed up.
No clear regulation
"It was a mistake on our part," admits publisher Hanspeter Lebrument.
Südostschweiz editor-in-chief Andrea Masüger speaks of an "internal
Lapsus", in which freelancers suddenly gave their texts to the Aargauer Zeitung
free of charge within the framework of the commonly practiced
exchange of articles and, conversely, permanent employees
should have been allowed to make secondary use of their works. "We are aligning ourselves
in accordance with the model contracts of the "Swiss Press Association",
explains Masüger. So what happens within the numerous SOM
(Bündner Tagblatt, Die Südostschweiz, Radio Grischa, TeleSüdostschweiz,
Radio Engiadina) is published or broadcast - even several times - the following applies
than compensated. To date, according to the
Südostschweiz managers had no problems with this. Nevertheless
a clear regulation is missing. "Until now, we have not
Let common sense prevail", in other words a rule-free state that
cannot be permanent, says Masüger. It's about living the
practice to safeguard employees. This means that the
SOM is not alone. This formulation deficit is widespread.
Today, it is common practice for the content of publications to be
practically automatically on the publishers' websites
appear. With the emergence of new Internet offerings such as weblogs and
podcasts or mobile communication, the overview is becoming increasingly
more difficult. "Many people believe what is offered on the Internet,
is free. But this is not the case. The content is subject to
the same rules of use as in the real world," says
Media law expert Franz A. Zölch.
Media professionals also assign the rights to Ringier to the publisher.
their works for all ringing titles - including the Internet. "The
is part of the contracts," says media spokesman Marco Castellaneta.
A number of publishers, including Tamedia and Basler Zeitung, have
recently adjusted their contractual agreements and are calling for the comprehensive
Assignment of copyrights with low flat-rate compensation models,
as the trade union newspaper Journalisten.ch reports in its latest issue
writes.
Global compensation not an issue
Media professionals are hardly resisting this, as the Internet has not been a
is a profitable business model. Paid websites should
merely prevent the public from reading content for free on the web,
instead of buying them at the kiosk. "The moment the house has money in the
Internet, the journalist must also get something out of it," says
Hanspeter Lebrument. But the administrative effort is not worth the
compensation for each contribution. "It should be proportionate
and be a business," says Lebrument. Global compensation models, such as
known from Pro Litteris, for example, are currently not an option.
Topic. "That will certainly come one day," says media law expert Zölch.
After all, it is still better for the author to be entitled to something than not
nothing, even if it is only a little in the end. But how are the
rights to journalistic works be bindingly protected? In the
As part of the partial revision of the Copyright Act, the Federal Council has
recently signaled that it does not want to include producer copyright in the
law. This would have changed the rights by law of those
automatically transferred, which bears the economic risk for the
publication. "You would have the entire copyright
must be reversed, because it is focused solely on the author, and
That's a good thing," says Zölch.
The copyright issue is therefore not the only problem for
especially freelance media professionals, but the increasing cooperation
of publishing houses in the editorial area as well as acquisitions and mergers.
"They want to save on the publishing side and work closely together. This is how
practically identical newspaper pages that cannot be duplicated.
wants to pay," says Benjamin Geiger, editor-in-chief of the
Zürichsee-Zeitung. This is drying up the market for freelance journalists,
just like newspaper mergers. Because if the small Thalwiler Anzeiger
to the Zürichsee-Zeitung one day, then it is with the now
still double remuneration for articles by freelancers on the left
Lake Zurich shore.
René Worni
