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Advice Required RE - Syndicating News/Photos

by ExRat
9 replies
Hi,

I'm starting a couple of blogs where I would like to take a news story (or part of) and the accompanying image (or a relevant image from elsewhere) from a typical official news site (that presumeably will have RSS) and then add some comments of my own to the post on my blog.

What I'd like to know is the best way to syndicate these items in the most appropriate manner (regarding attribution of source and maintaining a professional look on my site) without plaguarising, breaking copyright etc.

Obviously I could copy/paste the text and link back to the original source, but is there an easier/better/more professional way to do this?

This is probably a dumb question that I should know the answer to but...I'm thinking that there is an easy way to pull in the RSS feed, or use clipmarks...or something (duh).

If it's not possible to do this (I see most news sites have strict copyright rules) I presume the best bet would be to summarize the news stories, and link to them as the source? Where can one get images that they can use of leading figures/places etc on their blogs? Or can't they?

Many thanks in advance.
#advice #news or photos #required #syndicating
  • Profile picture of the author CSwrite
    Hi Roger,

    It would depend largely on the news feeds that you select. The AP is very strict about what you can do with their content, so I would avoid that one. However, there are plenty of others that won't mind and will appreciate the mention.

    Instead of posting the whole story, I think if it were mine, I'd probably do just a few paragraphs and add my summary. As long as there is proper attribution to the original source and a link back to the whole story, you shouldn't have any problems (in theory anyway).

    I'm sure I've got some great links to photo sites etc... from when I worked with a news agency. I'll see if I can't dig them up for you.

    As for pulling the posts in - if you are using WordPress - one of the best is WP-o-Matic. (link) If you're using something else, there are probably a few others as well.

    Hope that helps!
    CS
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    • Profile picture of the author ExRat
      Hi Cswrite,

      Thanks for your reply, yes that does help, but if I could be so cheeky as to ask some more - I presume AP is associated press - I have no idea what this encompasses but would guess that it includes major papers and TV news outlets? More importantly, who doesn't it include and how do I find out please?
      I think if it were mine, I'd probably do just a few paragraphs and add my summary.
      So would you 'quote' a few paragraphs?

      As long as there is proper attribution to the original source and a link back to the whole story
      I presume that a link back in itself is not proper attribution?

      I'm sure I've got some great links to photo sites etc... from when I worked with a news agency. I'll see if I can't dig them up for you.
      That would be great thanks. I did once buy a WSO from a journalist who provided links to sites where we could use the images, but they were more places rather than faces. It would be ideal if I could use pictures of famous sports stars/politicians - but I also imagine that these are the ones that are not freely available?

      I am using wordpress - I had a look at the plugin but I'm not sure (at first look) about whether it will help - I would want to add commentary to every post.

      I did some research by looking for similar sites already out there - but I found them few and far between (I'm targetting UK only) which is one of the reasons I want to exploit this market.

      Many thanks again.
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      Roger Davis
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      • Profile picture of the author KarlWarren
        Originally Posted by ExRat View Post

        It would be ideal if I could use pictures of famous sports stars/politicians - but I also imagine that these are the ones that are not freely available?
        I think you're going to struggle here due to licensing on the photos. It's not necessarily the stars who you have to worry about, but the rights holders - who are usually people (companies) like Darren Lyons. They have teams of people on the lookout for their photos being used (mostly in print media) so that they can contact them to ask for the royalty.

        I'm not well versed on the matter though.

        Kindest regards,
        Karl.
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        eCoverNinja - Sales Page Graphics & Layout Specialist
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        • Profile picture of the author ExRat
          Hi Karl,

          Thanks, that's what I thought. No problem - I could always use my skills to do some drawings instead.

          Stickman Gordon Brown announces new legislation...

          Stickman David Beckham (who looks surprisingly similar to stickman Gordon Brown except for the paunch and the 'och eye the noo' speech bubble) launches new range of footwear...

          Red-haired stickwoman Nicole Kidman.....

          Seriously, I wasthinking that if I was allowed to use their RSS feed to 'quote' the story then that might contain the image too but I noticed that their copyright is even stricter for commercial use.It looks like images might be off the menu then - unless CSwrite comes up with something.
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          Roger Davis
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          • Profile picture of the author flashgordon
            I'd love an answer to this too. I use Blogger and have just been copying the first paragraph or so and then putting a link at the bottom to the original source. It works, but is time consuming and wish there was a way to automate it. Any suggestions? I'm trying to do a post that contains five stories per week for my keyword.
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      • Profile picture of the author CSwrite
        Originally Posted by ExRat View Post

        Hi Cswrite,

        Thanks for your reply, yes that does help, but if I could be so cheeky as to ask some more - I presume AP is associated press - I have no idea what this encompasses but would guess that it includes major papers and TV news outlets? More importantly, who doesn't it include and how do I find out please?


        So would you 'quote' a few paragraphs?



        I presume that a link back in itself is not proper attribution?



        That would be great thanks. I did once buy a WSO from a journalist who provided links to sites where we could use the images, but they were more places rather than faces. It would be ideal if I could use pictures of famous sports stars/politicians - but I also imagine that these are the ones that are not freely available?

        I am using wordpress - I had a look at the plugin but I'm not sure (at first look) about whether it will help - I would want to add commentary to every post.

        I did some research by looking for similar sites already out there - but I found them few and far between (I'm targetting UK only) which is one of the reasons I want to exploit this market.

        Many thanks again.
        Hi Roger! Yep - AP is Associated Press. They syndicate through quite a few sources, such as Yahoo News, Google News, etc... so it can be tough at times to avoid them. Reuters is a bit friendlier, at least in my experience, when it comes to using a few paragraphs here or there. Newsvine has some great stuff, but once again, the AP dominates there as well. For UK news, the Guardian is usually ok with you using a few paras (in my experience again) and FirstPost is another web based one that is very friendly - not much content there though.

        For attribution, a link is usually sufficient, dependent on the source.

        I do have the links somewhere to some great photo sites - I've got to run (moving day oh joy) but as soon as I get back I'll see what I can find for you. However, I do like the stick figure idea :p

        CS
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        • Profile picture of the author CSwrite
          Originally Posted by ExRat View Post

          Hi Cswrite,

          Thanks for your reply, yes that does help, but if I could be so cheeky as to ask some more - I presume AP is associated press - I have no idea what this encompasses but would guess that it includes major papers and TV news outlets? More importantly, who doesn't it include and how do I find out please?


          So would you 'quote' a few paragraphs?



          I presume that a link back in itself is not proper attribution?



          That would be great thanks. I did once buy a WSO from a journalist who provided links to sites where we could use the images, but they were more places rather than faces. It would be ideal if I could use pictures of famous sports stars/politicians - but I also imagine that these are the ones that are not freely available?

          I am using wordpress - I had a look at the plugin but I'm not sure (at first look) about whether it will help - I would want to add commentary to every post.

          I did some research by looking for similar sites already out there - but I found them few and far between (I'm targetting UK only) which is one of the reasons I want to exploit this market.

          Many thanks again.
          Ok - here is what I have so far - there are more, but this should get you started.

          Photo Sharing on Buzznet - Featured Pictures - you wouldn't think this one would be good - but there are a ton of images of politicians, sports stars and various other people. Not all are copyright free, but a quick search will usually yield at least a few you can use. I've found this to be one of the best resources when you need a free image fast.

          http://www.archive.org - you can find some video clips and images here - once in awhile you'll get a good find.

          FEMA: Photo Library - some political figures, disaster footage, etc...

          Hope that will help
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