Jason Collington
Tulsa World Editor
YouTube removed a video by State Superintendent Ryan Walters that included unauthorized use of property from the Tulsa World.
After Walters and his staff refused to take out the video segment made by the Tulsa World after repeated requests to do so, the news organization filed a copyright infringement complaint with YouTube.
After reviewing the superintendent’s video, YouTube took it down and replaced it with “Video unavailable. This video is no longer available due to a copyright claim by Tulsa World.”
Walters and his department did not have permission to use the Tulsa World’s video segment. The video was sent to media multiple times. The three-minute video contains news segments from a number of local and state media outlets about Tulsa Public Schools.
Oklahoma State Superintendent Ryan Walters speaks during an exclusive interview at the Tulsa Republican Party Headquarters on Thursday, Aug. 3, 2023.
At the end of the video, a segment produced by the Tulsa World of an interview with Walters appeared. Neither Walters nor his department asked for permission to use the segment.
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In the only reply to the Tulsa World’s requests, spokesman Matt Langston wrote in an email: “I am trying to track down the portion that is copy written. Will you send me what you think is the issue and the statute? We’ve got our legal counsel reviewing as well.”
The whole segment of the video is under copyright, as is all content published by the Tulsa World. That point was made in a follow-up email to Langston’s question but he never acknowledged it.
“Anyone with an elementary understanding of copyright law knows you can’t take other people’s work and use it without permission,” said Mark Thomas, executive vice president of the Oklahoma Press Association, which serves 170 newspapers including the Tulsa World. “We teach preschoolers this simple concept. Surely people who work for Superintendent Walters understand this simple legal principle. It applies to all textbooks and teaching materials. too.
“I cannot comprehend why the State Department of Education continues using unauthorized reproduction of news stories, news video and other images after repeated requests to stop. Copyright violations are a matter of federal law and using education funding to defend against federal legal actions is costly. I don’t think the Legislature intended for education dollars to be spent defending copyright violations.”
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