Copyright: An Easy Excuse For Making Something Disappear

from the but-not-a-believable-one dept

Well, here's an interesting twist on a common story. We've pointed to lots of examples of companies and public figures using questionable copyright claims to take down content that was critical of them. Now, we've got what appears to be a newspaper hiding behind bogus copyright concerns as an excuse for taking down content that was critical of one of their advertisers. A press release from the Canadian Pirate Party points us to the story of a political cartoonist for the Vancouver Province, who claims a parody video he made criticizing an oil company was taken down from the newspaper's website after the company threatened to pull all its advertising from the newspaper's parent chain.

Dan Murphy, of the Vancouver Province, created an animated parody targeting Enbridge Inc. and the potential environmental impact of its proposed multi-billion-dollar Northern Gateway pipeline proposal that would cross B.C. and Alberta.

...

The original Enbridge video was designed to promote its controversial pipeline project.

Murphy’s animation mocks Enbridge, splashing oily goo on the screen while questioning the oil giant's environmental record.

Murphy told CBC News that he was told Enbridge was outraged that its ad was mocked and put heavy pressure on Postmedia News.

The parody was taken down and Murphy says he was given a blunt message by Vancouver Province editor Wayne Moriarity.

"'If it doesn't come down, Enbridge says they're pulling a million dollars worth of advertising from Postmedia, and if it doesn't come down, I, Wayne Moriarty, I'm going to lose my job,’” Murphy said Moriarity told him.

The editor, however, told a different story, offering vague "copyright issues" as the reason for the takedown. Meanwhile, the advertiser denied almost everything:

Contacted by CBC News, Moriarty would only say copyright issues are involved. Other managers at Postmedia did not return CBC’s phone calls.

Enbridge has released a statement saying it did not threaten to pull its ads and that it did not ask for the video to be removed.

An Enbridge spokesman did say a conversation took place with Postmedia, but he wouldn't divulge any details about who contacted the newspaper company or what was said other than post media [sic] had apologized for the spoof.

Though it's currently a his-word-against-theirs situation, it's pretty hard to take the statements from the editor and the advertiser at face value. As the cartoonist mentions, he is putting his career on the line to speak out about this, and knows he may end up in hot water with Postmedia—and he has made specific statements about what his editor said to him. If it's a publicity stunt, it's a pretty damn stupid one. Meanwhile, the "copyright" claims are flimsy—especially considering Enbridge says nothing about copyright in their statement. This is most likely just another example of copyright being used as a convenient way to hide real motivations.

Now, it's important to note that this is not an issue of censorship. The newspaper is free to publish and unpublish whatever it wants, and the editor doesn't have to tell anybody why—and, of course, it's up to the reader to look at their decisions and stated reasons then decide whether it's a newspaper they want to pay attention to or trust. The relationship between newspapers and advertisers has long been uneasy, and this isn't the first time an editor has been forced to make a tough choice. Of course, this also isn't really a first for this newspaper chain and its relationship with oil companies: back when it was a part of Canwest (the publishing division of which later spun off into what is now Postmedia), it sparked complaints to advertising standards regulators over a series of paid advertorials about Canada's tar sands that were misleadingly labelled as "Special Information Features".

Maintaining integrity as an advertiser-supported news source is a serious challenge that newspapers have struggled with for decades, and once an editor is stuck in one of these conflicts, there's often no easy way out—except, perhaps, saying something about copyright and hoping that does the trick.

Hide this

Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.

Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.

While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.

–The Techdirt Team

Filed Under: advertising, dan murphy, oil pipeline, wayne moriarty
Companies: enbridge, postmedia, vancouver province


Reader Comments

Subscribe: RSS

View by: Time | Thread


  1. identicon
    John Doe, 29 Jun 2012 @ 10:00am

    History repeats

    Sounds like the paper has stepped into a tar pit here. Maybe it is time that it goes the way of the dinosaur?

    link to this | view in thread ]

  2. icon
    Ninja (profile), 29 Jun 2012 @ 10:17am

    It's not censorship if you consider the legislative meaning but it's still censorship by commercial pressure.

    Solution: cartoonist could run a blog where he posts independent stuff for free and relies on ads, flattr and donations while explicitly disclaiming that the content of the blog is independent, has nothing to do with the news outfit nor reflects their ideals. Then an internal procedure could pre-filter mocking content like this and if it hits any advertiser it goes to the blog only. Problem solved.

    Although this sort of self-censorship (or any at all) is not quite good for the newspaper credibility...

    link to this | view in thread ]

  3. icon
    :Lobo Santo (profile), 29 Jun 2012 @ 10:21am

    Re: Cred!?!

    Not to worry! I'm pretty sure the newspapers and news channels do not care a whit about their credibility.

    Why else would they have taken to lying to everybody when they're not practicing fluffy useless journalism?

    link to this | view in thread ]

  4. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 29 Jun 2012 @ 10:33am

    It was a work for hire so the newspaper held the copyright and had it pulled.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  5. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 29 Jun 2012 @ 10:35am

    Has anyone actually seen the un-edited Enbridge ad? It's hard not to in Western Canada, Enbridge runs it every. Single. Fracking. Day.

    And considering the content it was just asking to be parodied. The edited version can be seen here [youtube.ca]. Look at it quickly before they send a DMCA notice...

    link to this | view in thread ]

  6. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 29 Jun 2012 @ 10:37am

    Blog is gone

    link to this | view in thread ]

  7. icon
    Ninja (profile), 29 Jun 2012 @ 10:42am

    Re: Re: Cred!?!

    Because ppl keep giving them audience thus providing a healthy cash flow from ads. But you can't fool everybody forever.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  8. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 29 Jun 2012 @ 11:42am

    Scientology

    Scientology uses copyright infringement as an argument against anyone posting its inside memos and training books online. It works legally.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  9. icon
    Josef Anvil (profile), 29 Jun 2012 @ 12:58pm

    It's just the way it works

    Corporations buy media outlets and politicians. That is just the way the business model works.

    It could be that all of the kerfuffle about new business models in the content industry is not just about copyrights. Advertisers may be just as worried about any disruption of the current business models which would cause them to lose control over the media outlet.

    It's difficult to threaten to pull millions in advertising from most web based services in order to control their content.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  10. icon
    BentFranklin (profile), 29 Jun 2012 @ 1:15pm

    I wonder why people won't pay for "professional journalism"?

    link to this | view in thread ]

  11. icon
    TtfnJohn (profile), 29 Jun 2012 @ 6:26pm

    Re: Postmedia meet Streisand Effect.

    Its a nice idea for Murphy to set up a blog for his independent work, as you suggest but it's standard for editorial cartoonists in Canada to have exclusive contracts with the paper or chain they work at which rules that one out.

    I'm not even sure how much ad space The Province sells to Enbridge as a single newspaper though Postmedia would sell more space, a lot more in papers closer to home like The Edmonton Journal.

    For those who don't know the Province is a tabloid style morning paper which specializes in Sports coverage and the usual blood'n'guts stories up front. The Metro Vancouver broadsheet is The Vancouver Sun which a more "serious" newspaper. Both are Postmedia products and both have had serious circulation declines in the past 20 years or so due to losing their connection with the metro area they serve.

    Like a great many newspaper properties their circulation and advertising woes predate the Interwebs though they'd probably want us to think differently.

    The oddest thing about this story is that editorial cartoonists are virtually untouchable in this country. Seemingly immune from our too English like libel and slander laws and other things used to control coverage. This kind of parody is something Murphy would do and I'd think Enbridge is wise enough to leave it alone. Going after a cartoonist is tantamount to instant Streisand Effect up here. Even more odd is Postmedia's and editor Wayne Moriarty's reluctance to confirm that it had to come down because of copyright.

    I'm not a big Murphy fan. The Province has a far better cartoonist when it comes to public figures who need to be skewered in Bob Krieger (http://www.theprovince.com/sports/Gallery+Sports+cartoons+from+Krieger/2926089/story.html) while I find Murphy a bit childish at times.

    Either way and either man, I'm going to believe Enbridge in this one. While they may have called someone in Toronto to ask what all this was about I doubt they made the advertising threat or that they issued the Canadian version of the DMCA takedown demand. They just know better.

    No one seems to have expected Murphy to go public with this inside Postmedia for some strange reason. Cartoonists in Canada are a touchy bunch and guard their position as opinion leaders and opinion makers who are more trusted than their employers as well as being a vital part of the Canadian political landscape.

    Postmedia meet Streisand Effect. Streisand Effect meet Postmedia. Enjoy each other's company. :-)

    link to this | view in thread ]

  12. identicon
    Migzy, 29 Jun 2012 @ 7:59pm

    found the video

    link to this | view in thread ]

  13. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 29 Jun 2012 @ 8:18pm

    Speaking as someone from Vancouver... the Province is a tabloid. Of the two Vancouver based papers, it is the one that has more TMZ type features than actual news or analysis. (Although they do have an excellent sports section, which is the only redeeming feature IMHO)

    So I'm not surprised at this.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  14. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 30 Jun 2012 @ 1:02am

    The definition of copyright hasn't changed? Yeah, and I suppose black is white, up is down and short is long.

    link to this | view in thread ]


Follow Techdirt
Essential Reading
Techdirt Deals
Report this ad  |  Hide Techdirt ads
Techdirt Insider Discord

The latest chatter on the Techdirt Insider Discord channel...

Loading...
Recent Stories

This site, like most other sites on the web, uses cookies. For more information, see our privacy policy. Got it
Close

Email This

This feature is only available to registered users. Register or sign in to use it.