Whatever happened to freedom?
The Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association recently sued The Appleton Post-Crescent newspaper, its parent company, Gannett Co., and the Wisconsin Newspaper Association – and won.
The newspaper’s offense? The Post-Crescent had the audacity to stream live coverage of four Wisconsin high school football playoff games in 2008.
This infringed upon a contract made between the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association and When We Were Young Productions. Back in 2005, the Association was seeking new forms of revenue, so they approached the production company. A decade-long deal was struck, allowing When We Were Young exclusive rights to produce, sell, and distribute all tournament series and championship events, except for those events under other contracts.
As demonstrated by his ruling, U.S. District Judge William Conley did not feel that the agreement between the Association and When We Were Young stifles media freedom.
I disagree. This sounds like a violation of the first amendment to me. You know, that whole sacrosanct freedom of the press thing?
Well, now the press is free to suffer – a charge. Any media outlet showing game footage longer than two minutes long will be forced to pay a fee.
Judge Conley ruled that media outlets can stream games not produced by When We Were Young for a fee. By way of explanation Conley wrote, “Ultimately, this is a case about commerce, not the right to a free press.”
In other words, the revenue-generating contract between the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association and When We Were Young Productions was more important than the press’ right to freely produce information.
Capitalism and freedom are two concepts that are beloved to Americans everywhere, and every now and then they manage to trip over one and other. I, personally, would argue that freedom is more important than capitalism in most cases – and should probably be deferred to. After all, without our freedom, we would have never benefitted so thoroughly from capitalism.
Too bad I’m a writer and not a judge.
Consider this before you go – how harmful is this decision for the kids who are playing in these games? Okay, so you get a few piddly cents for your exclusive footage, Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association. Congratulations. But how will your students achieve Cody Paul-esque fame if you’re regulating media exposure to their skills?
Erin Monda is a TMCnet Contributing Editor. To read more of her articles, please visit her columnist page.
Edited by Michael Dinan
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