Liberals cry ‘unfair’ after Fox orders unbalanced YouTube purge

By Daniel Tencer
Friday, November 13th, 2009 -- 1:02 pm
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foxnewslogo Liberals cry unfair after Fox orders unbalanced YouTube purgeLiberal bloggers are accusing Fox News of launching an Internet war against them in a campaign to selectively remove Fox clips from YouTube.

On Wednesday, YouTube shut down the popular News1News channel, which featured news clips that many progressive bloggers and news sites would add to their stories. On the rare occasion, Raw Story also embedded News1News clips in stories having to do with media coverage. The channel provided clips from all news networks, but often focused on Fox's controversial commentators.

The decision to shut down News1News came after Fox News issued 150 take-down notices to the channel, which they are entitled to do under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, reports Adrian Chen at Gawker. YouTube's policy is to shut down any accounts that receive three or more take-down notices, so News1News was immediately pulled offline.

But Fox News' move appears to be limited to News1News, while other YouTube channels -- those viewed as having conservative leanings -- remain untouched. Chen points out that the Glenn Beck Daily Clips channel continues to operate, although it features 614 clips, as of last count, of Glenn Beck's Fox show. The Conservative Nation channel, with close to 200 clips, is also still online.

Thus, Fox's move will mostly affect stories posted on progressive-leaning blogs, such as Gawker, the Huffington Post and Truthdig, while leaving intact YouTube clips embedded at conservative Web sites. Instead of embedded video, visitors to those sites will now see a notice stating that the video in question is "no longer available."

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Queerty blog reported Friday that News1News' creator, identified only as "Jon," has experienced this before. This past summer, Fox shut down his NewsPoliticsNews channel on similar copyright grounds, but the channel was reinstated after YouTube lawyers disagreed with Fox's basis for the take-down notice.

Jon reportedly told Queerty at the time that this "will not happen again."

Queerty writes:

So why is this such a big deal? Because folks like Jon — private citizens who have the time to rip and upload videos — are crucial to this "blogging" thing we do all day long. A single 30-second clip that might otherwise disappear into the ether can live forever online, driving debate for at least a 24-hour news cycle....

Chen notes that "what's surprising about this whole episode isn't that Fox will use digital copyright law to fight back against its political opponents; it's that the operators of these popular cable news-ripping YouTube channels are actually pretty important players in the blog game."

Think about it: They not only get to select which cable news clips have the possibility of "going viral" and becoming news themselves, but if they're taken down, whole swaths of video-based blog posts become a lot of words surrounding a big empty space.

And [Jon] said that network bigwigs took enough notice when one of his MSNBC clips hit 500,000 views that VP of Digital Media, Mark Lukasiewicz, personally called him to say they had their eye on him.

Because there's no limit to how many YouTube accounts someone can create, Jon's news channel is now back online, under the name NewsPoliticsAmerica. Bloggers will no doubt be watching closely to see if and when the channel is once again shut down.

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Story comments are below...
  • Unbelievably fascist! then they worry about gov held media? this is PRIVATE media acting the same way - how can they just remove PUBLIC information like that. I'm not saying one is better than the other, but funny how everyone is scared of government in this country but no one is scared of private corporations. Pffff!
  • knowingthefuture
    I guess what you might want to do is enlighten yourself and start studing the issues that comprise the New World Order. Once you start delving into that idea all else makes sense. Stop trying to attack Fox News and Conservatives we all want the same thing as American citizens I believe (life, liberty, and the right to private property). Oh, and by the way if you watched Fox News on a regular basis you would know that the Founding Fathers change pursuit of happiness from the right to private property because they didn't want the slave states to be able to use the word property to indicate a slave, thus the change. I fear deeply for my country. Most Americans do not realize that our freedoms are being taken from us on a daily basis. the only hope we have to overcome this growing threat to our democratic republic is to come together and decide in an honest discussion of whether we want to be a totalitarian controlled police state like Russia or China or if we want to revert back to the Constitution of the United States of America. We cannot have it both ways these to types of political and social systems do not operate synergistically 9they are inherently opposed toward one another). Truth is that both parties have decived and betrayed the American people and until we stop playing party politics where they control the discussion and the language used we are DOOMED to become slaves. Just look at government spending over the last 20 years. Seriously, look up a graph on goventment expenditures over the last 20 years, YOU WILL BE SHOCKED! And who did it both parties the DEMS and the GOP. It is time we stop the insanity. I beg of you to do your research with the net there is no excuss. Until you educate yourself abou the true agenda fo these men, bankers, and coorporations on a global scale you really should abstain from making comments that may mislead peolpe who read your posts. See the plan is to make us all suservant to the New World Orders One World Government where we all be michochip and all money and health records and everythignwill be linked to the alphanumeric code that has been assigned to you (i.e. the Mark of the Beast Revelation Ch. 13). Don't believe the Dems or most of the GOP they are all in the same game. They think we are stupid and unable to govern ourselves so they will make all the decisions for us - NOT ME! Good luck I hope your eyes will be opened and your heart cleansed. God Bless You!
  • ameriki
    It never fails to amaze me how the GOP can convince someone that the Democrats are doing what the GOP is actually doing. It the GOP that has enlarged the government, it is the GOP that has bankrupted the government, it is the GOP that stripped the Bill of Rights out of our Constitution, it is the GOP that has freed the giant corporations and stripped the private citizens of their freedoms. The GOP has and is doing this and you are asking for more!
  • Sorry, you don't get to be both a greedy bastard and a devout Christian. Pick one, then preach.
  • dan
    you are deranged. you almost had me thinking you might just be poorly informed.

    nope, you're a loon.

    get help
  • EstherER
    To: Knowingthefuture Please understand I am not saying this to be hurtful, but your comments sound like they are coming from someone who is beginning to experience signs of delusional paranoia. You mention that you are a researcher. Please research this mental health issue and decide it you should go see your doctor, many primary care physicians are not particularly well versed in mental health but can get you headed in the right direction. I am being honest here, please understand I am not trying to mean. The content of your writing, the amount of it, the capitalizations and exclamation points definitely show your passion and concern, but they also show thinking that is becoming delusional. It is easy to not realize when you are living it, so please look into it and consider getting help. In the meanwhile, turn off any media programming (tv, radio, websites) that are making you feel more and more worried and try to immerse yourself in things that make you feel happy about life. I know when you first read this you will feel upset and defensive and want to dismiss it, but please think this possibility over. Again, I am not trying to be mean, I think you may need some help.
  • EstherER
    To: Knowingthefuture, Please understand I am not saying this to be hurtful, but your comments sound like they are coming from someone who is beginning to experience signs of delusional paranoia. You mention that you are a researcher. Please research this mental health issue and decide it you should go see your doctor, many primary care physicians are not particularly well versed in mental health but can get you headed in the right direction. I am being honest here, please understand I am not trying to mean. The content of your writing, the amount of it, the capitalizations and exclamation points definitely show your passion and concern, but they also show thinking that is becoming delusional. It is easy to not realize when you are living it, so please look into it and consider getting help. In the meanwhile, turn off any media programming (tv, radio, websites) that are making you feel more and more worried and try to immerse yourself in things that make you feel happy about life. I know when you first read this you will feel upset and defensive and want to dismiss it, but please think this possibility over. Again, I am not trying to be mean, I think you may need some help.
  • kuskomale
    I'm just wondering ... if an evangelical / fundamentalist truly believes in the Rapture / Tribulation, etc., wouldn't they be WELCOMING the New World Order? I mean, if you want to be a part of the Last Days, then BRING IT ON. Why be afraid of the prophetic "doom and gloom" message? Besides, if you're a Believer, aren't you going to be skipping out on all these Tribulation disasters anyway? Christians will be GONE when the New World Order arrives, right? So why not encourage all of this mayhem and bring on the Second Coming, sooner rather than later?
  • LiberalTimeLord
    Screw Faux News!

    Bunch of Liars, Crybabies and Racists!
  • allenallen
    Why pick on crybabies?
  • Alice Fried
    Fox is bad news, no question. We must continue to legally expose their lies and unfair tactics at every turn. The white house may have given up the fight against them, but the people should not. We deserve, honest, factual reporting and not the blistering ideological hate-mongering and fear tactics Fox produces. We must continue to call out their lies and their partiality. Free speech gives them the right to say what they will, but it also gives us the right to say we don't believe it.
  • cr8f
    It isn't bad news it is BS pedaled as news. It isn't news at all.

    We should demand anyone selling themselves as news be forced to provide it or lose their broadcasting license,
  • smallbear
    Like any other criminal enterprise, they want to hide the evidence.
  • jamminjohn
    The very fact a so-called news channel can't afford for its videos to see the light of day is Orwellian in itself. To hide behind copyright protection, and do so for liberal leaning blog sites only, tells one just how "fair and balanced" this news organization actually isn't. Next, they'll be wanting signed, verified statements from their watchers that they are indeed actually registered wingnuts.
  • joannainpa
    Fair and balanced my butt! They are hiding the evidence that clearly displays how utterly untrue there"reporting" is. Fox should be banned. They are nothing but a right wing propaganda group trying to urge people to do harm to democrats. At least the dems were accurate and had proof of the bush regime wrong doing. My question is... where was the outrage when bush pissed on the constitution time after time?
  • cr8f
    So Fox is operating like the former Soviet Union only allowing their lies and BS.

    They are running scared.
  • Actually guys, I gotta correct you here...I am the owner of the YouTube channel ConservativeNation, mentioned here in your post..both myself and GlennBeckDailyClips have been hit hard today as well. I've lost everything I uploaded in the past 2 weeks so far, with more dropping off every minute.

    This makes me mad.. we can all agree on that, regardless of politics.
  • dan
    Do you support John McCain's legislation to do an end run around regulations to preserve "Net Neutrality," and if so, why?
    How is enforced monopolism, "free enterprise?"
    When is YOUR side going to get "loud" regarding this issue?
    What is up with the abuse of copyright law to suppress "fair use?" When you use the phrase, "we can all agree," doesn't it make you feel a pang of hypocrisy, that most of you all will oppose progressive issues, even when you agree? NAFTA, the diminution of national autonomy through WTO agreements, the suppression of 3rd Parties through the "pay for play" campaign finance system, just to name a few?
  • If that's so, I am sorry that you are being silenced by Fox. However, I tried to access some of your recent videos and they all played without a problem. Your channel is available as are those of TheRightScoop, BuckFarack, GlennBeckDailyClips and ConservativeNewMedia.

    But News1News is "suspended." and unavailable. What's the difference?
  • dittisrush
    I'm a fan of yours but do not understand something about this whole issue. I thought that YouTube users were not allowed to upload copyrighted material anyway? Please clarify. Now, if news websites in gerneral begin disallowing embedment of video....then THAT will be very unfortunate for many bloggers and some news organizations!
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