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Rewrite News Articles?

by appie
16 replies
Hello warriors,

I have a question. Let say you want to start a news sports blog. So You get your news articles from other sites example:bbc.com/sports. What is allowed and what not.

I think that you can rewrite the articles and post them on your site. Underneath you write resource the site you got the article from.

Do you need to link back like this or just write the site?
Like this: http://warriorforum.com or just warriorforum.com

Thank you very much,

Appie
#articles #news #rewrite
  • Profile picture of the author writeaway
    From my experience, merely rewriting news can only get you part way to success. If you want to go all the way, write your OPINION on the news and link the news part of your opinion to the source. Remember, you are ALWAYS BRANDING regardless of what you do online. So BUILD your brand by always providing FRESH value. You do that with an OPINIONATED and PERSONALITY-driven site not one of the 1000000000000000000000s of 'me too' news rewrite sites out there.

    Just my opinion. It's all about branding. Start today.
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  • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
    Banned
    Originally Posted by appie View Post

    I think that you can rewrite the articles and post them on your site.
    You don't think that would be what the law of copyright calls a "derivative work", then? (I'm not a lawyer, so I'm not sure, but I'd worry about it, myself!).

    Originally Posted by appie View Post

    Underneath you write resource the site you got the article from.
    You don't think that might just be a way of drawing to their attention the fact that you've breached their copyright?

    I suspect that many people do this kind of thing and get away with it. I also suspect that it isn't really allowed, and can sometimes cause problems.

    The general idea that "crediting the site from which it comes" somehow justifies using copyright content without permission is certainly a mistaken one, anyway: I've seen plenty of lawyers explaining this. And I think the idea that "re-writing it" gets round the copyright is a mistaken one, too, because it's still a "derivative work". What it may do is increase the chances of what you've done passing undetected.
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    • Profile picture of the author writeaway
      Originally Posted by Alexa Smith View Post

      You don't think that would be what the law of copyright calls a "derivative work", then? (I'm not a lawyer, so I'm not sure, but I'd worry about it, myself!).
      Merely rewriting doesn't get around it. However, reporting the news and linking to news sources MAY be covered by the FAIR USE doctrine under US copyright law: U.S. Copyright Office - Fair Use It depends on a number of factors. Commentary is usually protected-that's why I advocate opinion or 'my personal spin on the news' type of commentary which a link to the source of the news. Summarize the news in one sentence or do block quotes with commentary. The point is to have the original commentary be the BULK of the news not just merely rewriting someone else's work. The latter might not fly if it's just a straight rewrite done for commercial purposes (even with attribution).
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  • Profile picture of the author techbul
    I know that it is OK to re-write content from other sources in the same way you would do an essay when you were in school. By quoting and referencing the sources, giving them the credit they deserve. Also, merely re-writing won't get you anywhere. You have to use the information to build your argument from your own point of view. Even if it's just a news, write a few paragraphs saying how this will affect that, and what other things may come in the future.
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  • Profile picture of the author appie
    This is how I see it on other sites to that's why I want to know it.
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    • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
      Banned
      Originally Posted by appie View Post

      This is how I see it on other sites to that's why I want to know it.
      Understood, but bear in mind two things, also ...

      (i) "Other people doing something" doesn't show that it's legal (e.g. there are sales pages all over the internet, owned by misguided vendors, continually offering PDF e-books for sale with "only 9 copies left", but that's still fraudulent when they're making daily sales);

      (ii) You often can't tell from looking at other people's sites whether they have permission from copyright owners for what they're doing.

      I'm "just saying"!
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      • Profile picture of the author appie
        Originally Posted by Alexa Smith View Post

        Understood, but bear in mind two things, also ...

        (i) "Other people doing something" doesn't show that it's legal (e.g. there are sales pages all over the internet, owned by misguided vendors, continually offering PDF e-books for sale with "only 9 copies left", but that's still fraudulent when they're making daily sales);

        (ii) You often can't tell from looking at other people's sites whether they have permission from copyright owners for what they're doing.

        I'm "just saying"!
        Ok thanks I understand maybe I should ask them how they do it:rolleyes:
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        • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
          Banned
          Originally Posted by appie View Post

          maybe I should ask them how they do it
          I suspect the reality is that many are doing it "on a wing and a prayer", and might not reply, but you can try.
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          • Profile picture of the author JohnMcCabe
            Take a look at how professional journalists do things - journalists who sell their work to companies with staffs of lawyers to protect them.

            What I see is writers relying on other sources for things like statistics, things like player quotes, and so on. Things not unique to the original source.

            "In an article posted to SomeSportsSite.com, Joe Player is quoted as saying, "blah, blah, blah."

            OR

            "According to a tweet made by @JoePlayer, he says..."

            Then, as others have suggested, put your own spin on things rather than simply taking someone else's work and running it through a digital blender...
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  • Profile picture of the author evilsaigon
    Unfortunately, you are not allowed to just copy the whole news article and give credits at the end. You are however allowed to copy a mere short excerpt. But your entire main post shouldn't just contain that. Excerpts are usually used more for substantiating your own content.

    If you want to use the news article content as your own content, then you will have to play smarter. It actually depends on how unique your rewritten article is, and if you can rewrite it so well that no one can tell it's even a rewritten article, then yes, it IS allowed.
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  • Profile picture of the author Mousumi
    Well, I had raised the same question on LinkedIn about a year ago. And one of the replies was posted by a man who had served at BBC for over 2 decades. He said that until I was blogging and sharing information there was no problem. But if I happened to register as a news media, publishing such content could land me in trouble (even if I cited them as resource) He said, " the best would be you buy breaking news. There are agencies that offer you their content for a yearly fee."

    He also added that when it is a general news, such as "Kindle Fire Becomes the Highest Sold Tab" then you need to go to Amazon's press release section, take the content, rewrite it and site them as source. If the news has already been published in dozens of media, you simply don't need to cite anyone's source (but the content has to be uniquely written)
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  • Profile picture of the author mojojuju
    Why don't you just rewrite The Lord of the Rings and sell it as your own? Think big.
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    :)

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    • Profile picture of the author Kay King
      I think that you can rewrite the articles and post them on your site. Underneath you write resource the site you got the article from.
      The problem with "thinking it's ok" is that we tend to think the rules apply in a way that suits what we want to do.

      "Other people did it" isn't a legal defense so if you base your actions on what others get by with...you'll need luck or a lawyer on retainer.

      There are news services that provide news stories that are "repeated" by many news outlets....but those outlets PAY to be members of the news service which gives them the right to reprint the stories.

      You can write your own content about news stories - repeat numbers that are factual statistics and publicly available - that's not the same as a "rewrite".
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  • Profile picture of the author ryanoryan
    Originally Posted by Alyona The Publicist View Post

    Why should you copy anything from BBC or any other similiar site when most of the information they quote from comes from 'news releases' issued by sports teams. I suggest you try subscribing to their news releases or writing to the teams you are interested in and asking their media relations person to start sending you out their statements.

    Large teams sometime even have an entire department taking care of the media and they will be more than happy to supply you with such information.

    They even send out photos that you can happilly publish on your blog without any legal issues because the team is actually happy that you are publishing them.

    In the long run you should also add some commentary and opinion pieces in your reporting it will add a personal touch and that is what will make or break your blog.
    that's really good advice, particularly if they are providing images with the story as it helps kill two birds with one stone!
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  • Profile picture of the author JohnMcCabe
    While the thread was over three years old when a link spammer revived it, the question itself does keep coming up.

    The response I gave in 2012 is still appropriate:

    Take a look at how professional journalists do things - journalists who sell their work to companies with staffs of lawyers to protect them.

    What I see is writers relying on other sources for things like statistics, things like player quotes, and so on. Things not unique to the original source.

    "In an article posted to SomeSportsSite.com, Joe Player is quoted as saying, "blah, blah, blah."

    OR

    "According to a tweet made by @JoePlayer, he says..."

    Then, as others have suggested, put your own spin on things rather than simply taking someone else's work and running it through a digital blender...
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