Can I use clips in a podcast?

I know that it's perfectly legal to use short clips of broadcast material in a documentary or news program. It's not even legally required that those clips be attributed to the original producer.

I would like to create a podcast using clips from speeches, news items, etc. I'd be happy to give full attribution at the end of the podcast.

What are the ATS rules about this? If I want to use a sentence from a clip of a George Bush speech, or a politician's appearance on television or radio, will ATS allow that podcast on the site? I've heard many radio programs that are almost entirely made up of clips from the media, and I happen to know that there was no permission requested or granted.

So, what's the rule? If something newsworthy is publicly broadcast, I'm allowed to use portions of that in a documentary or radio show, so can I use those same portions in an ATS podcast?

vuoto,

While one of the Three Amigos will have to provide the definitive answer, here is a post by SkepticOverlord that addresses a prior incident regarding podcasts containing copyrighted material.

www.abovetopsecret.com...

The podcast in question contained a portion of a news broadcast (ABC, I believe) to support the point he was trying to make. As you can see the results were anything but pleasant.

Hope this helps.

Thanks, 12m8keall2c,

But the post that you reference appears to have appeared in the Really Above Top Secret forum, to which I don't have access.

Maybe you can just quote the applicable passages here?

Basically, it referred to the Rules and Guidelines for copyrighted material in Podcasts on ATS.

See excerpt below:

Inappropriate content in your podcast (illegal information, copyrighted material without permission, attacking members, etc.) will result in termination of your member account

*emphasis mine







[edit on 3/13/2006 by 12m8keall2c]

Thanks for the clarification, but I really need a ruling on this:

If I were to make a documentary podcast of short (no more than 15 seconds) clips from news stories during the Viet Nam era, am I in voilation of any ATS guidelines?

If I make that same documentary podcast from stories on the Iraq War is it any different?

If a politician makes a speech in Congress, can I use an audio recording of very short clips of that speech in a podcast and put it on ATS? Television stations don't have to get the permission of the politician to broadcast his public speech, do they? When Rush Limbaugh plays a clip of something a politician said on Meet the Press or C-Span, there is certainly no attribution or permission.

Your best course of action would be to U2U SkepticOverlord with the specifics. I'm sure he will provide the definitive answer to your question(s).

Originally posted by vuoto
... Television stations don't have to get the permission of the politician to broadcast his public speech, do they?

Correct. However, in order to rebroadcast the recording created by that television station, you would need their expressed permission.



[edit on 3/13/2006 by 12m8keall2c]

I hear talk radio programs continually playing little clips of politicians on various television programs, Meet the Press, etc. and they don't give any attribution. I hear Robin Quivers playing clips of press conferences recorded off of CNN or CSpan, MSNBC, clips of television shows, they spent two hours playing clips from the oscars. In fact, every news station the night of the oscars played clips from the telecast, without attribution, and certainly without permission.

I'm working on my podcast, which I'm trying to do completely without my own voice. I'm trying to tell the story in a verite manner, without narration.

I'll send one of the big guys a copy of my podcast before I post it to get it vetted, but it is an interesting question. If a broadcast is "news" then I believe a "news" or "opinion" presentation can air short segments of it without permission.

I was just looking at the site MediaMatters.org

They are a site that showcases the right-wing, pro-Bush bias in the Media. Their site is filled with video and sound clips from Television and Radio. Not only is there no permission from the originating sources, but I'm sure most of the networks and stations that aired the original clips would much rather that Media Matters NOT showcase these clips.

I think it's pretty clear that there is no legal reason why someone expressing an opinion or presenting something as newsworthy cannot use a short clip from something that was publicly broadcast.

If any of the ATS staff feels differently, please explain here.