After On-Air Mishaps, Embarrassed Newscasters Turn to Copyright Law

Whether we consider the purpose of copyright to be to protect economic rights or moral rights, copyright is a powerful yet dangerous instrument. Abuse of copyright, particularly using the Digital Millennium Copyright Act's takedown notice system, is hardly new; the Chilling Effects database contains ample evidence of efforts to silence legitimate speech.

But this summer, we saw a trend of abusers using copyright to save face and reduce criticism from an unexpected type of copyright holder: news organizations. It is troubling to see those who typically support stronger First Amendment rights actively partaking in censorship. Now, we've seen a news organization use copyright to eliminate criticism before, in the case of Newport Broadcasting using the DMCA to silence Free Press's "Change the Channels" campaign, but it is disturbing to see a resurgence in this particular form of publicity control. 

In one case, KTVU blundered while reporting on the July 6, 2013 Asiana Airlines crash. This San Francisco news station misreported the names of the pilots as "Captain Sum Ting Wong," "Wi Tu Lo," "Ho Lee Fuk" and "Bang Ding Ow" - a racist joke that was mistakenly programmed to be read on air. After this went live, videos of the news anchor reading these fake pilot names were uploaded to YouTube and blogs, drawing further public attention to KTVU's mistake. Those videos are no longer available on YouTube, after KTVU sent a round of DMCA takedown notices to get the videos removed. 

Since KTVU's mistakes have been revealed, the station has apologized, placing the blame on the National Transportation Safety Board by noting that an NTSB official had confirmed the pilot names. The NTSB in turn apologized for one of its interns erroneously confirming the pilot names. With respect to the video takedowns, KTVU vice president and general manager Tom Raponi has spun the decision as a move of sensitivity: "The accidental mistake we made was insensitive and offensive. By now, most people have seen it. At this point, continuing to show the video is also insensitive and offensive, especially to the many in our Asian community who were offended. Consistent with our apology, we are carrying through on our responsibility to minimize the thoughtless repetition of the video by others." Despite KTVU's explanation for this selective enforcement of its copyright, many viewers (including this blogger) are more inclined to believe that KTVU acted to "erase" its mistake for its own reputational benefit.

KTVU wasn't alone, however, in using the DMCA to censor criticism of on air activity. The prior week, CNBC hosted Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren on the program "Squawk Box" to discuss Warren's proposed update of the Glass-Steagall Act. During the interview, Senator Warren deftly countered anchor Brian Sullivan's assertion that the government regulation can't effectively protect against banking's financial risk. After it caught the attention of Upworthy, the video of Senator Warren's passionate and intelligent rebuttal went viral. The video, hosted on YouTube, reached roughly 700,000 views in just a few days.

Presumably to protect its reputation, CNBC's parent company, NBC Universal, filed a DMCA takedown notice, and the video clip has consequently been removed from YouTube. Still, a transcript of part of the "smackdown" remains, courtesy of AmericaBlog. In response to the public outcry challenging NBC's actions, CNBC's spokesperson issued the following