Media Critic Solomon Pushes Limits of Fair-Use in New Documentary (War Made Easy)

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Media Critic Solomon Pushes Limits of Fair-Use in New Documentary
by Joe Garofoli

The new documentary “War Made Easy” isn’t just a searing critique of how administrations over the past 40 years have manipulated the media to build support for war. The 72-minute film is a media provocation itself - a challenge to federal copyright laws.

Based on a 2005 book by Bay Area media critic Norman Solomon and narrated by actor Sean Penn, roughly 90 percent of “War Made Easy” consists of archival news footage from major television networks that would cost a ton of money to license - if the filmmakers had paid for all of it; they bought only about 60 percent from distributors. 0817 01

The filmmakers say they are protected under the “fair use” provision of federal copyright law, a measure that is being tested in ways unimagined when it was codified 30 years ago.

The film arrives at a time when some major media companies are rethinking the value of their copyrighted material and how much of it they’re willing to share with videomakers and documentarians like Solomon. While media giant Viacom is suing the online video-sharing site YouTube and its parent company Google for hosting clips to which Viacom holds copyright, other media companies are slowly loosening their hold as the gatekeepers of information.

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http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/08/17/3221/