Bloggers win again! It all started when President Clinton sat down with Chris Wallace of Fox News Sunday for an interview. What an interview it was because the next day it was all over the news and internet. Eventually within a day or so it was already on youtube and many other sites included political blogs and message boards. The video became very popular and was all over the internet which must have made Fox News very unhappy. On Monday the internet division of Fox sent out cease and desist letters to all users on youtube which had referenced this movie due to copyright claims. However, a 180 degree turn back in the right direction let youtube users restore these videos because of the popularity and blogger outrage of there previous decision to remove the content. In a statement Fox said the following as to why the videos where allowed to be published again

“…They clearly realized that part of the reason that the interview got so much attention was because of the clips on YouTube and other non-Fox video website…”

And then went on to say

“Our Internet division used poor judgment in asking this to be taken down. We’re thrilled the Wallace-Clinton clip has received so many hits on You Tube.”

So what is the big deal about this? I would have to say if the video was made popular by the internet then network news needs to start thinking about ways to get abreast in technology and move more towards the internet as a way in providing there content. Some news sources have already done that (NBC-2 news in Fort Myers, FL streams most of there broadcasts online) and some have not. The copyright laws and DRM will only hurt companies in the long run. If you don’t want your content to be reused or reposted then don’t publish and if you do publish it, sending out cease and desist letters is not the way to gain blogger loyalty. Bloggers are only trying to get the word out and at the same time helping you gain internet loyalty and increased viewership. I think Fox had realized this immediately after send out the letters. I can just imagine the impact and blogger fury if this Fox position wasn’t lifted. I would have to say that the blogger/internet community has chalked up another victory in the in the network news vs. internet news war.

Here are some things to think about has time goes on and we see this more and more of this particular situation. Has Fox started the move in the right direction and set a president with internet copyright infringement laws, or will companies just realize that these posts will help them in the future through viewership and advertisements? Hopefully more companies will follow suit and allow reposting of good content. It only helps the people when this content is out and open for every one to see. What do you think about all this and media copyright of news content for the internet?