This footage of Justin Trudeau was shot by the Huffington Post Canada and used without permission in a Conservative party attack ad. Photo: YouTube According to a report, the Conservative party is looking to change Canadian law to allow political ads to carry news content without repercussion. It also appears the Conservatives are the “political actors” who will benefit most.
CTV News obtained a document that outlined the party’s plan to amend the Copyright Act to allow political parties, politicians and candidates to use materials published by news organizations, such as an interview clip, without having to ask permission or pay for licensing.
“The exemption will provide greater certainty for political actors who wish to use ‘news’ content in their political advertisement without being bound by rights holder authorization,” says the document.
Although the legislation suggests the Conservatives recognize that news organizations hold ownership of their own content, their actions do little to acknowledge it. Several of the party’s attack ads against Liberal leader Justin Trudeau prominently feature video taken from broadcasters and journalists without permission.
The first “He’s in way over his head” ad released in April 2013 took clips from The Huffington Post Canada of Trudeau at a charity event. In the footage, Trudeau performs a tame striptease as attendees bid on a lunch with the leader in support of the Canadian Liver Foundation. The outlet confirmed no permission had been sought for use of the video.
Despite complaints from Huffington Post Canada, the Tories went on to use that footage in other ads, including the one below about terrorism. The ad also uses a clip of a CBC interview with Trudeau.
“As I understand it, the Conservative Party used clips from this interview without our consent,” confirmed Chuck Thompson, head of public affairs for CBC English Services. He added the ad did not air on CBC, nor did the Conservatives submit it for air on CBC.
Other visuals and soundbites have been taken from CPAC and CTV.
It appears that only the Conservatives are employing these tactics in their ads — neither the Liberals or the NDP had ads available online that contained video pulled from news organizations.
An NDP spokesperson confirmed that although the party will use content headlines in ads, their mandate is to “respect the rules.” NDP finance critic Nathan Cullen told CTV the copyright law change is “disrespectful” and “shameful.”
Deputy Liberal Leader Ralph Goodale told Canada.com that it’s understanding that the Liberals do not use news materials in their ads and called the copyright change “just very wrong.”
It’s another devious tactic, it’s an abuse of process
“It’s effectively expropriation without compensation,” said Goodale. “News organizations are going to be told that their news production material can be stolen. And they won’t be compensated for it, their permission will not be sought, it’ll turn up in partisan attack ads, and they will be forced to run those ads without and judgement or discretion or flexibility.”
He also criticized the Conservative’s apparent plan to include the legislation in an omnibus bill, which is sure to pass given the party’s majority in the House of Commons.
“It’s another devious tactic, it’s an abuse of process,” said Goodale.
“It’s abusive from a political point of view [and] from a journalistic point of view it really does blur the line between news and propaganda.”
It’s clear the Conservatives expect backlash, saying in the document that news creators “will vehemently claim that their work is being unfairly targeted for the benefit of political parties.”
Indeed, earlier this year several news organizations — CBC, CTV, Rogers and Shaw — vowed in a letter to stop airing political ads that used their material without permission.
“As news organizations, the use of our content in political advertisements without our express consent may compromise our journalistic independence and call into question our journalistic ethics, standards and objectivity,” the letter said, according to CBC News.
Law professor and critic Michael Geist has made the full document outlining the Copyright Act amendment available online. As Geist points out on his blog, Canada’s current fair dealing rules when it comes to copyright infringement should be robust enough as is to cover this sort of use. He was, however, more critical of the legislation’s narrow scope — applying only to politicians and parties and not the general public.
“We are all entitled to exercise our political speech rights. A new exception that guards against copyright stifling such speech should apply to all,” he wrote.
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