For the perspective of NPR’s ombudsman, check out Jeffrey Dvorkin’s page. He is open-minded enough to quote some of the network’s critics, and he even includes a link to this TeleBlog.
While I still dislike NPR’s linking policies, I myself favor the gentle approach and would oppose the withholding of contributions to public radio stations. It isn’t as if NPR is stonewalling us. A dialogue is still possible on such issues as linking by advocacy groups and businesses. What’s more, as shown by a sympathetic segment that a Minnesota affiliate did with Cory Doctorow, a boycott would indirectly punish working-stiff interviewers and producers who are on our side or who at least are neutral.
The network meanwhile has improved its terms of use–no more form to fill out before linking–and hopefully will be making other changes to address the serious and rather valid concerns of bloggers and other Web publishers.
I see this as a matter of education. The more restrictions NPR imposes on links, the more risky it will be for the network’s own Web operation to link to sites in the news.
Perhaps NPR should contact lawyers at EFF and reporters’ groups to check out different legal viewpoints from the one it is now getting. NPR holds itself up as an organization with strong journalistic values. That is exactly why the perspective of reporters’ organizations might actually be more helpful than those from profit-minded publishers or broadcasters. A library-oriented lawyer might also help. If nothing else, NPR should keep in mind its mission statement–which in many ways overlaps with those of librarians, another group concerned with credibility. At the grassroots level, I know that Jenny the Shifted Librarian would have more than a few things to say.
