Legal Environment Challenges and Opportunities for Preservation and Access of New Programming

Abstract

A group of research institutions is undertaking efforts “to preserve and provide public access, for research, teaching and other purposes, to…news content produced by commercial and non-profit media organizations, including but not limited to CNN, NBC, WGBH, public and community television and others.” These extremely valuable efforts raise a variety of legal questions, most centrally questions concerning copyright, which governs the reproduction, distribution, adaptation, public performance, and public display of works of creative expression, including news broadcasts.

This report will survey some of the ways that copyright law may affect the important cultural mission of preserving and providing access to televised news reporting. I conclude, based on the plain text of the law, it’s legislative history, and a series of favorable trends and developments in recent judicial decisions, that institutions have little to fear from the law as they pursue their important public service missions in this area.