Print is Dead: Linking Edition

Richard Posner advocates an incredibly stupid idea:

Expanding copyright law to bar online access to copyrighted materials without the copyright holder’s consent, or to bar linking to or paraphrasing copyrighted materials without the copyright holder’s consent, might be necessary to keep free riding on content financed by online newspapers from so impairing the incentive to create costly news-gathering operations that news services like Reuters and the Associated Press would become the only professional, nongovernmental sources of news and opinion.

So the solution for the troubled New York Times, Posner says, is to force me to pay a fee or get permission whenever I link to their articles. The reality that such a system would actually make me less likely to bother linking, which would decrease the NYT’s web traffic, reducing their online ad revenue even further, escapes him. He is stuck in a pre-hyperlink mindset.

The newspaper business is not getting killed by Google. Indeed, if anything Google is the only reason the industry still exists. The reason wire services and newspapers are so jealous of new media is because they still do not understand it, do not want to understand it, and remain so arrogant about their lofty self-image. The MSM enabled the Bush years, got surprised by the effectiveness of new media, and wonders why no one thinks they’re relevant anymore.

Here’s Dana Milbank meeting Nico Pitney yesterday on CNN’s Reliable Sources:

A couple of things to point out in Milbank’s behavior: first, the way he invents collusion out of thin air, an act that belongs in the Piltdown Politics hall of fame. Second, the incredible arrogance he displays toward a member of the new media.

“Real” reporters were shocked and appalled to see a (gasp) mere blogger get the second question at a presidential press conference because they, after all, are Very Serious Reporters. Here are a couple of their Very Serious Questions from that same press conference:

Major Garrett of Faux Noise: “Right here, sir. In your opening remarks, sir, you were — you said about Iran that you were appalled and outraged. What took you so long to say those words?“

Margaret Talev of McClatchy: “How many cigarettes a day do you now smoke? Do you smoke alone or in the presence of other people? And do you believe the new law would help you to quit? If so, why?”

This nontroversy recalls an actual scandal from a few years back:

Strangely enough, the Jeff Gannon story came out only after a blogger named Atrios started digging. The Very Serious Reporters from the Very Important Media Companies in the White House press corps all had their suspicions (they were proud to tell us later), but none of them could be bothered to do any, y’know, journalism about it. Just like they couldn’t be expected to investigate the Bush claims about Iraq and WMD. And they wonder why no one thinks they are relevant anymore.

Now that their revenues are crumbling, the Very Pretentious News People think I should pay to link to their content. Why would I do that, when I can link to Atrios for free?