Digital Copyright for Magazines

Erin Finlay, manager of legal services at Access Copyright

AMPA had the pleasure of hosting Erin Finlay, manager of legal services at Access Copyright, for the seminar “Copyright Issues in a Digital Era” in Calgary and Edmonton. Participants included magazine writers, editors, publishers and marketing consultants, and there was something for everyone to sink their teeth into. 

Erin started with a crash course on the basics of copyright law, and managed to make some pretty heavy legalese come to life. One participant described the seminar as “very thorough without being pedantic.” It was appreciated that, wherever possible, Erin offered definitions related to magazine publishing. For example:

• Moral rights – an author could claim violation of their moral rights if they don’t want to be associated with an advertisement featured on the same page as their article. 

We also looked at digital copyright conflicts in journalism, and specifically the Heather Robertson case:

• Class action against the newspaper industry for using her articles in digital archives without her consent
•  The verdict – newspaper publishers have the right to include articles in a full reproduction of the newspaper, but not when the paper is disaggregated into individual articles
•  This begs a key question about copyright issues – “are we trying to squeeze old world copyright models into new technology?”

Also of particular relevance to the magazine industry was the Digital Copyright Trail—creator to publisher to distributor to user:

• Publishing is no longer a model of creators and publishers pushing information out to users via distributors, but rather the reverse. 
• Digital media distributors (ie: internet service providers and search engines) and users are now pulling that information from publishers and creators.

There was plenty more that we covered in this short seminar, and Erin certainly taught us a lot, but there’s also always more to learn. One participant requested a discussion of contractual rights, and how publishers can create contracts with their freelancers that are fair to all. We’ll have to bring Erin back in the future to tackle that one! 

--- Rebecca Lesser

AMPA Communications & Programs Coordinator

Feature Writing with Dan Rubinstein of Canadian Geographic (Part 1 of 2)

It was nice to see Canadian Geographic editor Dan Rubinstein back in his old stomping grounds this week. Dan hasn’t been back to Alberta since he moved to Ottawa for the CG gig so it was perfect for AMPA to bring him out to host a few webinars and seminars in Calgary and Edmonton. The room was full of eager writers and editors ready to hear Dan’s pearls of wisdom. And this 2009 Alberta Editor of the Year Award winner definitely delivered. 

 Dan accepting a National Magazine Award on behalf of Kris Demeanor, 

whose winning feature he edited for Unlimited magazine.

If you missed the feature writing sessions with Dan, not to worry. Here’s a recap (just Part One for now).

Dan began by discussing what magazine articles do—the main goal being to take readers on a journey. Common ingredients he cited in a good magazine feature include:

• engaging opening scene
• nut paragraph (hints at central theme, lays down map for readers as to the path you’re going to lead them down)
• history of evolution (important background info to understand the topic)
• roster of characters
• vivid details
• sense of closure

He then made a critical point: “If you want to be a great magazine writer, you should read great magazines. You should have favourite magazine stories. Deconstruct them. Why do you like them?”

Dan speaking to a riveted group at the Feature Writing seminar in Calgary.
Photo credit: Sandra Markieta, SAIT student and AMPA volunteer

Strong Openers

Dan references an Esquire article by Mike Sager as an example of a great feature with a strong opener full of vivid detail. (Love the man-purse reference as a revealing detail to show how out of place he is.) “A strong opener is critical; you need to hook the reader.”

He uses a cinematic analogy to illustrate a good lead. “Think of openings as James Bond movies. They really pull you into the narrative with details, action, excitement, then fade to black and the real story begins."

Structure

“Conceive of your story as a series of scenes,” Dan advises. Before you even write a story, you should be able to block out scenes or create an outline. You can also take an essay approach (opening, three points, conclusion) or use dramatic juxtaposition to jump between two ideas.

Stay tuned for Part Two where I’ll go over Dan’s advice on styles, tone/voice and other helpful writing tips!

--- Colleen Seto

AMPA Blogger-in-Residence