Can I post my own letter to the editor if it was published in a Gannett paper?

self | March 4, 2016 | self

[JimRed]

Admin Moderator- My local Gannett newsrag published my opinion letter a couple of days ago. Does that mean I have to link them rather than posting my own letter from my database?

[JimRed]

Any guidance appreciated.

[Boogieman]

It’s your letter, you own the copyright, unless you specifically waived it somehow:

http://dearrichblog.blogspot.com/2009/11/letters-to-editor-who-owns-rights.html

[P-Marlowe]

If they did not pay you for it, then I would think they have no copyright on it.

You wrote it and unless they advised you that they own the copyright to your work, then you should be able to publish it anywhere you want.

[IronJack]

Newspapers used to have a disclaimer stating that any letters sent to them become the exclusive property of the paper. If the Gannett cage-liner you were published in has such a disclaimer, then strange as it seems, you don't own the publishing rights to the letter anymore.

However, you can excerpt it to your heart's content.

[Blood of Tyrants]

Post the letter with no link. It’s your letter.

[EDINVA]

You could post your letter here, as you wrote and submitted it, then note that it was published in the Local Rag, a gannett paper.

But I tend to think they don’t copyright, as you are free to submit your letter to any number of news outlets, one or more of which might publish it, or none might publish it, at their discretion.

[jjotto]

Depends on what you may have agreed to when they published it. Normally, you would retain copyright, but you might have unknowingly given it away.

[Tenacious 1]

You have every right to share your own creation with whomever you want unless you sold the rights to it, are profiting from it AND someone else has the exclusive right to profit from your work.

[Agnes Heep]

Just post it. They won’t know, and even if they did, it’s even odds that it won’t be worth pursuing. And if they pursue it, just say you’re sorry and withdraw it.

[Mr. K]

why not do both!

post the link to the newspaper AND the text of you letter under it

[HomerBohn]

Just post it, Jim. You wrote it.

[SampleMan]

Generally speaking, no you may not. No more than a reporter who wrote an article can treat it as their work.

It is also possible to plagiarize your own words.

[Larry Lucido]

I’ve already copied your letter and sold the rights to an international publisher. Was that wrong?

[Theodore R.]

Yes, just copy and paste. You hold the copyright on your own work.

[JimRed]

why not do both!

Gannett is so left wing I hate to give them clicks.

[CodeToad]

You own the copyright on it. Go for it.

[Cletus.D.Yokel]

Copyright?

It’s dead Jim.
I’m just a doctor, not a miracle-worker!

[1rudeboy]

just post it as a vanity, with no link

[JimRed]

OK, thanks all. I’m gonna post it; let ‘em sue me if they don’t like it!

[MayflowerMadam]

Better to ask forgiveness than permission — or so I’ve been told.