TeleRead: Bring the E-Books Home

Nice work if you can get it: Associated Press wants $12.50 for five words—to hell with Fair Use!

By David Rothman

Alas, my satire on the AP’s ‘tude toward fair use might be too close to reality, if you go by the posts in a Techmeme roundup and the price quotes below. I’d hope that AP’s forthcoming guidelines for bloggers—and any it might issue for writers of books, E and P—would be less risible. Meanwhile doesn’t it say something that I’ve just cited a roundup from a startup company like Techmeme? What does this say about AP’s importance in high-tech coverage? How come Techmeme beat AP to the punch in setting up a site? Actually I have at least a partial answer. AP, unlike more progressive new organizations such as the New York Times, owner of the valuable Blogrunner service, just might fear aggregrators as a threat to its business model.

The AP in the Brass Check era: News monopolists at work

So what would the world be like if the AP and other media giants controlled the news to the extent they have in the distant past? Upton Sinclair raised disturbing issues about AP in The Brass Check (Word file here; better version excerpted here from a University of Illinois Press version; Wikipedia post here). He said that AP by policy had deprived him of coverage. If Sinclair’s facts are right, he in effect presents a powerful argument for fair use and for the need to be able to quote, dissect and compare.

But what about the present? If AP fights for a Draconian copyright approach in court and directly or indirectly lobbies for one, might the wire service give up its independence in return for help from Washington’s copyright cops and politicians? I hope none of this will happen. But we don’t know, and AP will raise nasty questions about itself if it wars against the blogosphere and fair use. Come on, guys. Do the right thing. For now, let me share an AP-related chapter from The Brass Check.

CHAPTER XXVIII
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS AND ITS NEWSPAPERS

I am giving a great deal of space in a small book to this one test of the Associated Press. I think that the subject is an important one, and that the documents in the case should be available to students. In the present chapter I give the reaction of the press of America to this particular test. If the reader is not interested in such details, he may skip this chapter.  

I have talked over this case with many lawyers, and shown them the documents, and asked: "Is there any legal flaw in them?" They have never been able to point out one. Also I have talked the case over with journalists–some of the most eminent of capitalist journalists, as I shall presently narrate, and have asked them to point out a flaw. They have pointed out what they think is a flaw–that in presenting to the Associated Press my telegram to President Wilson, I was asking the Associated Press to give publicity to my name and personality, and the Associated Press might have been justified in refusing the request.  

I answer that there were many ways in which the "A. P." could have handled this matter without mentioning my name: a fact which I plainly pointed out to Mr. Rowsey. The first time I spoke to him–over the telephone–I was speaking, not for myself, but for Senator Robinson. She, a duly elected representative of the people of Colorado, speaking in their legislature, had nailed the Governor’s lie, and it was Mr. Rowsey’s unquestionable duty to report her words. It was only when I realized how completely the "A. P." was in the hands of the coal-operators that I "butted in" on the matter at all. And when my telegram was refused by Mr. Rowsey, I was careful to point out to him that there were other ways he might handle this news. He might give the story as coming from Senator Robinson; he might send extracts from the editorial of the "Rocky Mountain News"; he might send a dispatch saying, "It is generally reported in Denver," or "Protests are being made in Denver." All this I made clear, and he in return made clear why he did not do so. Anyone who had been present at our long and partly humorous interview would have perceived that this was no error in judgment of an individual employe of the "A. P.," but a definite policy of the great machine. Mr. Rowsey went so far as to say to me that he was a Socialist, in sympathy with my point of view, and that he personally would have been willing to send out a straight story.  

In exactly the same way, when I took this story to various newspapers and magazines, I tried to suppress my own personality. I said to the editors: "If you are not willing to discuss the grievance of Upton Sinclair, then make an investigation of your own. Send a representative to Denver and interview Senator Robinson and write about the efforts of a progressive woman senator for fair play in this strike. Take the telegrams which passed between the President and the Governor of Colorado, take the pretenses of the fake mediation commission and the false reports of the Associated Press about it, and write the story without mentioning my name." But all such suggestions were in vain. There was no capitalist magazine or newspaper in the United States that would take up the conduct of the Associated Press in the Colorado strike. 

In one of its published statements in the "New York Evening Post," the Associated Press had explained its stern attitude toward the editors of the "Masses":  

The Associated Press is not prosecuting the case in any vengeful spirit, but is fighting for a public vindication. For several years the association has sat silent under accusations of this kind, reflecting upon the integrity of the service and the personal honor of its responsible officers, because the charges were made either on the floor of Congress, where no redress is possible, or by persons who were careful or lucky in avoiding the legal limitations of civil or criminal libel. In several cases the persons making the charges retracted them absolutely. At last they have a case involving libel per se, and they purpose to avail themselves of the opportunity to present to the public the facts regarding the service.

This, you perceive, is dignified and impressive; dignity and impressiveness are virtues permissible to great capitalist institutions. But now make note: my challenge to the Associated Press, published in the "Appeal to Reason," repeated the identical words for which the editors of the "Masses" had been arrested; and I sent a copy to all the leading officers of the Associated Press; I afterwards saw a letter, signed by Melville E. Stone, general manager of the Associated Press, acknowledging that he had seen it. Here surely was a charge "involving libel per se," and one which I had taken pains to make as emphatic, as unconditional, as damaging as possible. It was a public challenge, appearing on the front page of a newspaper whose circulation for that week was five hundred and forty-eight thousand and forty. Yet the Associated Press did not take up the challenge; it swallowed the insult.  

Not only that, but every newspaper having the Associated Press service did the same; some nine hundred newspapers throughout the United States sat in silence and let this challenge pass unanswered. I had the "Appeal to Reason" send a marked copy of this issue to every one of the nine hundred Associated Press papers, and I wrote to my clipping-bureau, asking them to watch especially for mention of the matter. This clipping-bureau is the best in the country, and seldom misses anything of importance. It could not find me a single mention of my challenge to the Associated Press.  

I next selected a list of forty of the leading papers of the country, including the twenty to which I had sent the telegram from Denver. I sent them a marked copy of the article, with a letter addressed to the managing editor, pointing out what my challenge meant–that I had publicly indicted the source from which this paper got the news which it gave to the public. Would the paper defend the integrity of its news? Would it force the Associated Press to explain this incident. Three papers replied to my letter. I shall deal with them a little later. The other thirty-seven papers left my letter unanswered. And let it be noted that this included all the papers which make the greatest pose of dignity and honor, such as the "Boston Evening Transcript," the "Springfield Republican," the "New York Times," the "Philadelphia Public Ledger," the "Baltimore Sun," the "Chicago Tribune," the "Louisville Courier-Journal," the "Memphis Commercial-Appeal," the "Atlanta Constitution." Also, I tried the magazines. One week after the publication of my challenge to the Associated Press there had appeared in "Collier’s Weekly" a leading editorial entitled "In Justice to the A. P.":  

The officers and members of the Associated Press have been kept busy lately repelling attacks upon that organization. In so far as they are defending themselves from the charge of wilful distortion of the news, we sympathize with them. Six or seven years ago we printed a series of articles which dealt with the general subject of "tainted news," and from time to time since then we have pointed out examples of this insidious practice. During this time not less than a score of persons have come to us with alleged examples of tampering with the news on the part of the Associated Press. All of these cases we looked into with care and pains, and many of the same were investigated by other publications and persons. We have never found a case that justified us in publishing the details or in making any charge of wilful distortion against the Associated Press.

I wrote now to "Collier’s Weekly." They had investigated a score of cases, here was one more. Would they agree to investigate this, and to publish the facts? To this challenge "Collier’s Weekly" made no response. "Collier’s Weekly" did not investigate, and it never published a line about the matter. Then I wrote to the editors of the "Outlook," the extremely pious instrument of the "clerical camouflage." In its issue of May 30, 1914, the "Outlook" had published two articles dealing with the Associated Press. I now wrote and invited it to take up this case, and the "Outlook" did not reply. Also I wrote "The Independent," which was once a liberal paper, and it too refused any publicity.  

To return to the three newspapers which answered my letter: Mr. Frederick S. Forbes, acting managing editor of the "Philadelphia North American," replied that his paper had

"frequently had occasion to criticize the news distributing agencies of the country," and would investigate my story. That was the last I ever heard from the matter. When I wrote to remind the "Philadelphia North American," they did not answer. In the course of a year I wrote several times, but they did not answer.  

And then the "New York World." The "World" had published a challenge, defying anyone to point out where it had failed to print important news. I now took this case of the Associated Press to the "World," and the "World" answered that having published my telegram to the President from Denver, the "World" had published the news! The fact that the "World" had got this telegram from me instead of from the Associated Press–that was not news! The fact that I had published a challenge, deliberately repeating the words of the "Masses" editors, and that the Associated Press and all its newspapers had passed my challenge by–that was not news, in the judgment of the "World"!  

The third paper which replied to me was the "New York Evening Post"; the only one which took up the matter in what I considered the proper spirit. Mr. John P. Gavit, managing editor of the "Evening Post," wrote as follows:  

Your letter of recent date, together with the exhibit embodied in the first page of the "Appeal to Reason" for May 30th, is hereby acknowledged. I have undertaken an investigation of the matter which will take considerable time and I am writing now only to prevent your having the mistaken impression that your communication is to be ignored. I attach for your information copy of a self-explanatory letter which I have addressed to Mr. Melville E. Stone, General Manager of The Associated Press.  

Dear Mr. Stone:

I hand you herewith copy of the letter which we have received from Mr. Upton Sinclair, together with a page from the "Appeal to Reason" published at Girard, Kansas, under date of May 30th, 1914. I have been out of town, which fact will explain my delay in taking this matter up with you.

I am perfectly aware of Mr. Sinclair’s reputation among newspaper men as an insatiable hunter of personal publicity; but it seems to me that his telegram to President Wilson, making specific allegations in connection with a matter of the utmost public consequence at a critical time, ought to have been transmitted by the Associated Press men at Denver. Of course, it is perfectly absurd for any Associated Press man to say that it is the policy of the Associated Press "to avoid controversy"; that theory of the service is long out of date, and two-thirds of its news reports relate to controversies in one way or another. I have not examined the reports of the matters to which Mr. Sinclair refers, but on its face his article certainly creates a prima facie of suppression of important facts regarding the situation at Denver. At the time to which he refers, I realize that the Denver correspondent was in a very difficult position in all this business, but in this case I think he made a palpable mistake.

It is evidently necessary under the circumstances that the "Evening Post" should deal with this subject, and I shall be glad to have at your early convenience any statement which you will be willing to have published over your signature. I personally believe that this should include some explanation from the Denver correspondent as to his reason for refusing to mention Sinclair’s telegram to the President; though, of course, that is a matter entirely within your discretion.

Yours very truly,

JOHN P. GAVIT,

Managing Editor.

The above letter was perfectly satisfactory to me. It did not trouble me what either Mr. Gavit or Mr. Stone thought about my reputation among newspaper men. All that I was concerned about, all that I have ever been concerned about, was that the truth about social injustice should be made public. Mr. Gavit sent me a copy of Mr. Stone’s reply, promising to make an immediate investigation of the matter and report. I felt so sure of the outcome that I ventured to make an announcement in the "Appeal," June 20, 1914, to the effect that the "A. P." was to be "smoked out," it was to be compelled to answer my charges.

But alas for my hopes of fair play, my faith in the organ of arm-chair respectability! Time passed, and I wrote to Mr. Gavit, again reminding him of his promises, and in reply he asked me to call to see him. I called, and found myself up against the concrete wall. Mr. Gavit was as polite as I could have requested; all that he failed in was action. He would not tell me the result of the investigation which Mr. Stone had made, or had promised to make. He would not tell me anything, except that the case was a subtle and difficult one to judge, and that he could not see his way to take it up. I quoted to him his letter to Mr. Stone, "It is evidently necessary under the circumstances that the `Evening Post’ should deal with this subject"; Mr. Gavit was uncomfortable and embarrassed, but he would not make good his words, nor would he publish in the "Evening Post" the facts about my challenge to the Associated Press. He never published a line about it, and on the basis of the facts above stated, I believe that I can claim to have proven positively that the "New York Evening Post" is not what it pretends to be, a newspaper serving the public interest.  

I make the same claim concerning the "New York Times." The "Times" did not answer my letter, it did not pay any attention to me; but it happens that I read the "Times," and know some of its editors, so I went after it again and again. I will quote from the last of my letters, so that the reader may see how desperately I tried to get something done:

New York City, June 15, 1914.

EDITOR, THE NEW YORK TIMES:

Some time ago I wrote you a letter with regard to charges I had made against the Associated Press. I asked you to consider these charges and lay them before your readers, and give them an opportunity to decide of their truth. Not hearing from you, I wrote a second time, to ask you to do me the courtesy to let me know your intentions in the matter. Still not hearing from you, I assume that it is your intention to treat my communication with contempt. I want to call your attention to the fact that in writing to you I am making a test of the sense of honor of your publication. I am putting you on record, and I shall find means to make your attitude known to the public. You are an Associated Press newspaper, and your honor is definitely bound up with that of the organization which serves you. You sell Associated Press news to the public. If the Associated Press news is false news, you are selling false news to the public, and you are refusing the public any opportunity to judge a most serious, a carefully documented charge that this news is false. It is true that you published my telegram to the President in one edition of your paper. But it is also true that you published it only because I sent it to you. The Associated Press did not send it to you. And I cannot always be in Colorado, and cannot always make it my business to supply you with antidotes to the poison which you are getting from the Associated Press. Only today, for example, you are, through the agency of the Associated Press, responsible for suppressing an important piece of news from Colorado: that is to say, the fact that Judge Lindsey has issued a statement defending himself, and especially the women who went with him, against the charges which have been made against them by the "interests" in Colorado. The "New York World" gave that letter a column, from its special correspondent. The "New York Call," having the Laffan Service, also had some account of the letter. You, having the Associated Press service, have not a word about it. And this is a vital and most important piece of news.

I then went on to tell about the "Evening Post" and its promise to investigate. I said:  

The "Times" is involved in the matter in exactly the same way, and to exactly the same extent as the "Evening Post." The "Times" published the officially inspired defense of the Associated Press in exactly the same way as the "Evening Post." I believe that it is up to you to explain the reasons for your silence in this matter. I believe that if you maintain silence, I shall be justified in declaring to all the world that you have shown yourself in this matter a newspaper without a high sense of honor, and false to the motto which you carry, "All the News that’s Fit to Print." I assure you that I shall make this charge against you on many occasions in future. You may think that the five hundred thousand a week circulation of the "Appeal to Reason" is a factor which you can afford to neglect, but I believe that in the course of time you will realize that you were mistaken in permitting me to place you on record in this matter.  

So ends the story of my test of the Associated Press and its newspapers. In the second part of this book, which deals with causes, I shall return to the subject, and show exactly why these things happen: Why the "New York Times" is without honor where the Associated Press is concerned, and just how many thousands of dollars it would have cost the "New York Evening Post" if its managing editor had carried out his bold promise to me.

Image credit: CC-licensed photo of wire machine from Rochelle Hartman and gang.