NEW DELHI: The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) today said “Authors’ rights are essential to the quality of journalism and to the future of our profession. They provide vital income for a journalist and they help the defence of professional ethics,”.

IFJ General Secretary Aidan White said “They play a crucial role in developing and maintaining a free press and democracy.”

He regretted that publishers had in recent years sought to grab control of all rights of journalists in order to exploit new technologies that allow them to recycle and reuse the work of journalists across different platforms.

The IFJ reiterated its demand for protection of these rights to ensure that journalists do not lose out in the rush to develop new media markets and also to highlight the link between rights protection and the sustainable creation of diverse high-quality media content that meets ethical standards.

The IFJ has issued a checklist of guiding principles for authors’ rights protection:

* All journalistic works - whether text, photo, audiovisual or other – must be protected and all creators of journalistic works must be recognised as authors whether freelances, employed, or work for hire or on contract.

* All journalists must have full economic rights – based on an exclusive rights to authorise the making available, publication or broadcast of their work.

* All journalists must have moral rights – the right to be named as the author and the right of integrity – and these rights must be unwaivable.

* All forced legal transfer of authors’ rights of use (work-for-hire clauses and similar rules) must be abolished for staff and freelance authors alike.

* All authors must be given protection against undue pressure to enter into unfair contacts following individual negotiations, and be guaranteed equitable remuneration.

* All staff and freelances must also have the right of collective bargaining regarding authors rights of use (collective negotiations need not be subject to special protection)

*Legislation that supports rights clearance through collective rights management societies and collective licensing should be upheld where it exists and introduced where it does not and is appropriate.