Submitted by admin on April 22, 2009 - 23:34
Law
Statutes affect aspects other than publication. Most of them, like the Medical Advertisements Act and the Stock Remedies Act, govern advertising. The laws of libel and copyright are of important moment to newspaper publishers, and scarcely a year passes by without some paper or other being the defendant in a Supreme Court suit for alleged defamation. Papers have to be careful in quoting from published material that may be copyright; but anyone can copy almost anything from a newspaper, if he wants to, without fear of an action. Copyright of articles in newspapers is restricted to those stories which bear a reserved line with them; all other matter can be reprinted 24 hours after publication. Statute law and by-laws also govern the sales of papers on the streets and by children. Most morning papers are delivered by adult runners; most evening papers by schoolboys, for children cannot by law be employed before a certain time of the morning, a time too late for the delivery of most morning papers which will have been tossed over suburban fences before dawn.