According to a recent
Pew study, 15 percent of adults online use Twitter — 8 percent daily. I’m pretty sure most of that 8 percent are journalists. Journalists love Twitter, whether using it for writing, conversation, or fighting.
And I love to watch—and judge—the sparring.
If you see a #JournoTweetFight that you think merits inclusion, please give me a heads up @saramorrison.
Buzzfeed has never been one to pay much attention to copyright law. The site even posted an article on how to “navigate the treacherous waters of fair use” in today’s “remix culture.”
Another Buzzfeed staffer, Mark Duffy (who posts as “copyranter”) had his own take on the matter.
DECISION: @copyranter has no remorse. He’s also totally wrong. I doubt he’d admit it, but the fact that he went back and changed the post after several people complained indicates that something needed to be changed in the first place. His over-defensiveness in the face of reasonable and rational arguments from @jaredbkeller, @chrisboutet, @lexinyt, @joeptone, and @juliemmoos, while hugely entertaining, did little for his cause.
There are good questions to be asked about when aggregation or Buzzfeed’s “remixing” crosses the line into copyright theft or just bad journalistic etiquette. It’s hard to have that discussion when the person speaking for Buzzfeed doesn’t have the answers.
Sara Morrison is a former assistant editor at CJR. Follow her on Twitter @saramorrison.