Status quo fair use allows news media to function.

[Computer & Communications Industry Association, 2017/06, “FAIR USE IN THE U.S. ECONOMY Economic Contribution of Industries Relying on Fair Use”, page 22, , accessed 7-8-24] nikoglenn

Balanced copyright is essential to the media, which frequently quotes and reproduces copyrighted works without license in the course of reporting stories. Journalists also report on factual information, depending on the well-established copyright limitation that mere data and facts are not capable of receiving copyright protection. Media accounts also often rely on reproducing existing reporting. The Newspaper Association of America told the House Judiciary IP Subcommittee during its copyright review that “the ‘fair use’ defense, which draws a distinction between infringing and non-infringing uses of copyrighted material, is a critically important issue for the news industry in the digital age.”

Services that catalog and archive news media recordings also require the fair use doctrine. As media tracking service TVEyes argued in litigation against Fox News, its product “is exactly the type of innovation that copyright law aims to promote and the fair-use doctrine is designed to protect.” Similarly, television monitoring service SnapStream explained to a Congressional committee that “[w]ithout fair use and the ability to make recordings, it wouldn’t be possible for government agencies to monitor television and quickly and efficiently respond to TV coverage and to hold TV content creators accountable.” SnapStream added that similarly, “[w]ithout fair use and the ability to make recordings, the creative satire and comedy of programs like the Daily Show, and, in many cases, the public awareness and spirited public debates they create would not be possible.”