[New Wave] Digital Transformation and Copyright Protection

Digital Transformation refers to the changes that occur as the use of digital technologies related to information, computing, and networks is widely applied and spread throughout our daily lives. It includes the evolution from past analog production processes and the resulting major market revolutions, the promotion of globalization in logistics movement, the creation of new organizations to manage these, the establishment of progressive relationships between producers and consumers, leading an era of communication based on user experience, and through this, the innovative transformation of industrial structures and landscapes.

Digital Transformation has also greatly impacted the information industry, including news gathering, reporting, and distribution. The production process of news as an information product has already been digitized. As news products are distributed through various digital media, innovations are occurring in journalistic behavior, news production structures, and the media industry. The amount of news consumed and distributed in wired and wireless internet environments has increased exponentially.

However, there are also dysfunctions such as rampant illegal copying, transmission, and editing of news, which disrupt the distribution structure of news products. Copyright issues are one example. If news digital products and distribution are indiscriminately carried out without sufficient copyright protection, market structures will be disrupted and it will be difficult to create revenue models. This is likely to lead to the collapse of news businesses and media companies.

Recently, as digital news content distribution and consumption centered on internet portal sites have rapidly increased, discussions on copyright protection and payment systems for news content produced and provided by media companies are actively underway. There is the enhancement of journalism status and diversification of revenue through paid news content. If media companies produce high-quality news, readers willing to pay additional costs to consume it will be formed.

However, for successful paid digital news content, individual media companies must invest additional costs in changes to production processes, distribution structures, and sales methods. There are also issues to be resolved such as securing competitiveness in the digital news content market and improving readers’ awareness of paid news content subscriptions.

The introduction of a copyright trust system can also be considered. This is a copyright protection system in the content industry where copyright holders entrust their rights to a specific organization that manages them integrally in accordance with legal regulations. Overseas, news copyright trust companies segment news products according to the characteristics of user institutions and establish differentiated services and payment systems that meet the needs of various institutions such as government/public institutions, non-profit organizations, and corporations. The service content is also advanced. Editing functions that allow secondary use of news content are provided as needed. Additionally, various secondary analysis products such as media coverage, news reach, news tone analysis, issue cloud analysis, and big data analysis are sold to satisfy diverse information collection and analysis needs. In the digital transformation era, it is necessary to devise a product system that can attract consumer interest through the digital information distribution system and service advancement, apply it to actual product development, expand the scope of the digital information copyright market, and prepare solutions to restore the health of the industry.

Jeong Wonjun, Professor, Department of Media Communication, Suwon University