Christie reply to reporter here
The Star Ledger (whose reporter asked the question) has filed a copyright complaint with Youtube and forced them to remove the clip.
I have at least two issues with that – first, this is a statement by a public official in a public news conference. While the newspaper may have shot the video, they didn’t create the “content” they are attempting to copyright, with the possible exception of the reporter’s question.
The second problem/issue is the purpose of Copyright protection is to protect the author so they are able to make money by selling their work. Copyright law is not to suppress publication of a work that embarrasses the publisher.
I have lots of issues with the current state of copyright law – the biggest of which is Congress extending the term of copyrights “after the fact”.
This is a very dangerous precedent (now admittedly, the S-L still has the video on their web site – but for how long?) If I’m Governor Christie, I’m now going to require all reporters certified to cover my events to waive all copyrights and stipulate that their materials is subject to fair use.
This sort of reminds me of the way the King family has demanded copyright royalties for the “I have a Dream” speech.
