Good Works Grapevine

As most of us have heard, the Associated Press (AP) have come down hard on bloggers. There are certainly varying opinions on who is right and who is wrong in this situation. But I think that the bottom line is that bloggers need to be more vigilante about researching and learning the guidelines for publications. I am a firm believer in the First Amendment and understand that blogging is a new and gray area. But, let’s face it, we don’t want to be sued or worse for something that we’ve written. Here are a few helpful articles on how these guidelines are now being handled (and I hope that I don’t go to jail for linking to them):

• AP, Blogs and ‘fair use’
• The Associated Press Wants to Charge You $12.50 to Quote 5 Words From Them
• Associated Press expects you to pay to license 5-word quotations (and reserves the right to terminate your license)
• AP Blog Fair Use Guidelines

I’m also reading We’re All Journalists Now, which so far has been a pretty interesting read.

Please share your thoughts.