Wisconsin high school athletic association sues Gannett Publishing to stop game videostreaming

In 2007, more than one state saw a battle between its state press association and the governing body of high-school athletics over the right to cover games. Now the fight in Wisconsin has involves a group of newspapers. The Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association has sued Gannett Publishing after its Appleton paper, The Post-Crescent, provided streaming video of a playoff game on its Web page.

WIAA's lawsuit says it has the rights to any "transmission, Internet stream, photo, image, film, videotape, audiotape, writing, drawing or other depiction or description of any game action, information or commercial used" of athletic events at its member schools. Citing Colin Fly of The Associated Press, Editor & Publisher's Mark Fitzgerald writes,"The WIAA awarded a Wisconsin photography firm a contract for the exclusive resale of photos from sports events -- and restricted resale by other media. Many Wisconsin newspaper ignored the ban, and the WIAA did not push enforcement -- though it kept the policy on its books and promised to 'revisit' the issue in the future."

The WIAA's lawsuit demonstrates "uncomprehensible overreach," Wisconsin Newspaper Association Executive Director Peter Fox told Fly. "They are essentially saying all these news reporting products are subject to WIAA control. If Wisconsin weekly and daily newspapers go ahead and capture these athletic events in certain forms of blogging or video or still photography, [the WIAA is saying] that Wisconsin newspapers can't use them in certain circumstances and they are owned by the private vendors that the WIAA has selected." (Read more)