The Newspaper Licensing Agency (NLA) has drawn criticism from the
PR industry once again, this time for its charges for electronic
distribution of press cuttings. Each photocopied cutting costs NLA
licencees 2p. But that charge is doubled to 4p if a cutting is
distributed electronically.
Guy MacNaughton, MD of the NLA told PR Week: ’The NLA’s tariffs reflect
the value to the licensee of its use of the publishers’ copyrights by
copying newspapers, rather than buying them in greater quantities. The
value of the right if exploited electronically is greater than through
photocopying. For the greater value the NLA charges a higher price.’ The
NLA says electronic copies have a greater value because they save on
labour, paper and photocopier expenses.
Last year the British Tourist Authority (BTA) saw its cuttings bill
increase four-fold to pounds 8,000 when it began posting cuttings on its
intranet. The NLA charged for 435 copies - the number of BTA staff
worldwide - rather than the 100 copies made when on the paper-based
system.
Leader, p8; Letters, p9.
