NLA Media Access Appoints New Chairman

London, 19^th October 2020

NLA Media Access is pleased to announce the appointment of Clive Marshall as non-executive Chairman. Clive joins the Board and will take over as Chairman with effect from 19^th October 2020.

Brian McCarthy will retire from the Board after eight years, including serving as interim Chairman for the past 12-months.

Marshall is currently CEO of PA Media Group, the parent company of PA, the national news agency for the UK and Ireland. Since taking up the role in February 2010, Clive has implemented a successful diversification strategy to reduce the Group’s reliance on the traditional media sector. This has enabled the PA Media Group to consolidate its position as the preeminent supplier of multimedia content and services to customers in the UK and overseas, across media, business and government. 

He was previously Chief Executive of the Australian Associated Press (AAP). With over 30 years of experience in the international media industry, he has held senior positions at several news organisations, including Canada’s CNW Group, Reed Elsevier Plc and Trinity Newspapers Limited.

Managing Director, Henry Jones said: “I’m delighted that Clive is taking on the Chairmanship of NLA. His knowledge of the industry, digital focus and track record will be of huge benefit to NLA at such an important time for the business”.

Clive Marshall commented: “I am looking forward to joining the team as the NLA continues to explore growth opportunities, driving value for publishers and supporting journalism.”

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Biography

Chief Executive, PA Media Group

Clive Marshall is Chief Executive of the PA Media Group, the parent company of PA, the UK’s leading multimedia news agency and provider of digital content & services.

Since taking up the role in February 2010, Clive has implemented a successful diversification strategy to reduce the Group’s reliance on the traditional media sector. This has enabled the PA Media Group to consolidate its position as the preeminent supplier of multimedia content and services to customers in the UK and overseas, across media, business and government. 

Under his leadership, the PA Media Group has grown to incorporate a range of specialist media companies. These are Alamy, a stock imagery business; EBS, a tv metadata business; Globelynx, a broadcast technology company; Sticky, a specialist marketing consultancy; and StreamAMG, a video streaming business. PA Media Group also owns stakes in the financial news provider, Alliance News, the automotive content business, Baize Group and the social video creation platform, Wochit.

Clive was previously Chief Executive of the Australian Associated Press (AAP). In the nine years that he led the company, AAP achieved strong and consistent growth in both revenues and profits. The business also built several successful subsidiaries, including Pagemasters, AAP Newscentre, and AAP Media Net.

With over 30 years of experience in the international media industry, Clive has held senior positions at several news organisations, including Canada’s CNW Group, Reed Elsevier Plc and Trinity Newspapers Limited.

In addition to his management and board responsibilities at PA Media Group, Clive chairs the board of Baize Group. He is a member of the advisory board at Sheffield University’s Department of Journalism and a committee member at the Thomson Reuters Trust. Away from the media industry, he is a Trustee of the Royal National Children’s Springboard Foundation.

NLA Appoints Chairman

NLA Appoints Chairman 

NLA Media Access is pleased to announce the appointment of Brian McCarthy as Chairman, with immediate effect. He succeeds Tim Brooks, who retired as Chairman in September.

Managing Director, Henry Jones said:

“I’m delighted that Brian is taking on the Chairmanship of NLA at an exciting time for the business. He brings with him a wealth of experience from the industry, including direct experience of the NLA Board, which will be invaluable in hitting the ground running.”

Brian McCarthy commented:

“I am looking forward to working with Henry and the team as the NLA continues to build on its strategy, driving value for publishers and supporting journalism.”

Brian has served on the NLA Board since 2012, representing regional newspaper publishers.

Brian McCarthy Biography

A qualified Chartered Accountant, Brian spent his early career with Arthur Andersen and Pearson Education, moving to Archant Regional newspaper division in 2004. In 2008 he joined the Archant  Group Board as Finance Director and was later appointed COO, a role he stepped down from this year. 

Brian has been a trustee and governor at Transforming Education in Norfolk, sat on the East of England Council of the CBI and has carried out a number of roles in the newspaper industry including the Regulatory Funding Company, and a number of committees at the News Media Association. He is also a non-Executive director of Norse Group, a services company owned by Norfolk County Council.

Tim Brooks to step down as NLA Chairman

NLA Media Access has announced that Tim Brooks is to step down as Chairman after six years at the helm.

Tim joined the company in 2014 and has overseen the transformation of the business, inducting a new Managing Director, Commercial Director, Chief Digital Officer and General Counsel/Company Secretary, while delivering 50% growth in revenues. 

Tim commented: “I am proud of what NLA has achieved over the last six years. It has been a pleasure to work with the team, and I leave happy knowing that my successor inherits a highly professional and successful management.”

Managing Director, Henry Jones said:

“Tim has been instrumental in guiding the business through times of change and rapid growth. I am personally grateful to Tim for his support in my first three years with NLA and we all wish him well for the future.”

Tim steps down in September 2019, having served two three-year terms. 

Appointment of the new Chair will be announced in the Autumn.

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Tim Brooks Biography

Tim Brooks began life as a journalist, launching Media Week magazine when in his twenties. He has been MD/CEO of major UK media brands, including the Guardian, the British Medical Journal, the NME and Ideal Home. He has been chair of the Newspaper Publishers Association, and a director of the Professional Publishers Association. He serves on several company boards, and is chair of the Advisory Council of the British Library.

How our Online Article Tracker System (OATS) helps detect copyright abuse

Copyright abuse is a major issue that affects all publishers and creators of original content. It’s easier now, more than ever, for content to be taken, copied and plagiarised without permission of the original copyright owner. This can present a significant issue for newspaper and magazine publishers as they rely on their unique, quality content to distinguish them in a world of fake news.

In 2014, NLA media access (NLA) created the Online Article Tracking System (OATS), which uses our unique database to search for, and detect, thousands of instances of copyright abuse across vast quantities of online article data.

OATS can analyse every article that’s produced by an online newspaper over a two-month period, and then detect where these articles have been copied by other domains. Once identified, the OATS team can then remove infringing content. With vast volumes of content to analyse, this has been a huge success and has revolutionised copyright detection for many NLA publishers.

These copyright abuses range from parts-of, to full articles, as well as photographs and captions that have been copied and posted without permission. The most common types of copyright abuse are:

• Copying or lifting text from an online article and adding a credit to the name of the original publisher. This usually occurs because there is a lack of understanding about copyright law and terms and conditions. In our experience, once the infringing domain is notified, they remove the content.
• Copying or lifting parts of (or all of) the text from an online article and not adding credit or linking to the original publisher. These sites tend to design the layout to look as though it's their own original work by their own reporters.
• Occasionally, websites that replicate a major news site in terms of design and URL. Sometimes the content is kept the same, however on occasion, we’ve seen the content changed or altered slightly, which gives the article a new tone or message. These instances of slightly-altered content contribute to the issue of ‘fake news’

Since its inception in 2014, the OATS system has helped remove over 400,000 articles from over 3,400 different websites that were taking publisher content without permission. In 2018, OATS removed over 89,400 articles from 802 sources with a 90 percent success rate of removing content. 

In most instances, we contact the site hosting the copyrighted content directly, inform them that they are in breach of copyright and ask them to remove the content. This process reduces the chance of the same person or domain repeating the offence. However, if after multiple attempts we're unable to contact the owner of the website, we contact the domains hosting provider and issue a takedown notice to remove the content.

To find out more and see OATS in action, please see our white sheet: (https://www.nlamediaaccess.com/wp-content/archive/News%20OATS%20document%20%20-%20final%20draft.pdf )

A Licence to Share: why you need a Corporate Website Republishing Licence

 Businesses rely on news media in various ways; keeping on top of what competitors are doing, as an analysis tool for consumer interests and brand reputation, or to showcase the great work their organisation has done.

If it’s your own products featured in the media, your company may want to shout loud and proud about this third party endorsement. Glowing reviews from newspapers and magazines on your website or social channels are a great way of showing potential customers that you aren’t the only one who loves your product or service.

However, in order to do this, businesses need one of two things: a NLA media access Corporate Website Republishing Licence (CWRL), or the permission of a publisher’s syndication department for each respective article.

A CWRL allows you to post news content to your website and on your company social media profiles. It gives you permission to post headlines, text extracts and PDF files on these sites, without the need to contact multiple publishers to gain their approval.

If you would prefer to seek permission from the individual publishers this must come from their syndication department not a journalist or other member of the editorial team. You should also ensure that you get this permission in writing.

Over 80 per cent of NLA media access revenue is returned directly to publishers who can then go on to continue to create the high quality content your business values. Through the purchase of a CWRL, and all other NLA media access licences, you will continue to support journalism across the UK and beyond.

You can apply for a CWRL by filling out the application form (which you can download here) or by speaking to your NLA media access account manager. For further information on the CWRL and how it works, click here.

So with a CWRL, the next time you see your company mentioned in a newspaper or magazine you don’t have to worry about infringing copyright law or permissions, instead you can focus on showing off the great work you do.