A JOURNALIST’S GUIDE
TO CREATIVE COMMONS
AUTHORED BY
Zac Crellin, Journalist & Founder of Open Newswire and
Jennryn Wetzler, Director of Learning and Training, Creative Commons
F E A T U R E D O P E N W O R K ( F r o n t & B a c k C o v e r ) "S e t T h e T r u t h F r e e" b y J a n a D o b r e v a, l i c e n s e d C C - B Y - N C - S A 4 . 0.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
A Journalist’s Guide to Creative Commons
01.
CONTENTS
TABLE OF CONTENTS
02.
INTRODUCTION
03.
WHAT CREATIVE COMMONS LICENSES MEAN FOR JOURNALISTS
05.
HOW TO OPENLY LICENSE YOUR WORK — IT’S EASY!
05.
HOW TO ATTRIBUTE — IT’S ALSO EASY!
06.
ATTRIBUTING CC PHOTOS IN JOURNALISM
07.
ATTRIBUTING CC ARTICLES
09.
READY TO USE CREATIVE COMMONS-LICENSED CONTENT?
"Creative Commons - cc stickers" by
Kalexanderson, licensed CC BY 2.0. 01
Creative Commons is an international nonprofit organization that empowers people to grow and
sustain the thriving commons of shared knowledge and culture we need to address the world’s
most pressing challenges and create a brighter future for all. Together with our global community
and multiple partners, we build capacity and infrastructure, we develop practical solutions, and
we advocate for better sharing: sharing that is contextual, inclusive, just, equitable, reciprocal,
and sustainable.
Open Newswire is a consolidated feed of freely-republishable news articles written by
professional journalists from around the world. Articles are written in over 90 languages and are
available to be used under Creative Commons licenses or similar guidelines.
INTRODUCTION
Sharing and reusing content in newsrooms is nothing new. But embracing Creative
Commons unlocks infinitely more potential, completely free of charge. Increasingly,
newsrooms around the world embrace Creative Commons to enhance their coverage,
boost their readership, and move towards more sustainable business models. This is a
primer on Creative Commons for journalism, and how to make the most of CC licenses.
The most common use case is for photos. Newsrooms that can’t find the right photo
through a service like Getty Images often turn to websites like Flickr or Wikimedia
Commons to find high-quality, newsworthy photos that are CC-licensed and free to use.
But open licensing also applies to entire articles. Around 300 news outlets across Africa,
the Americas, Asia, Europe and the Pacific already release their stories under Creative
Commons licenses. This means that other organizations can republish these articles
free of charge, and without having to ask beforehand.
Republishing stories can increase the original news outlet’s traffic, social media
engagement, and ad revenue, and generally contributes to a better product. Good
journalism will always be appreciated by readers.
Some newsrooms like The Conversation and ProPublica CC license all of their works as
part of their business models, encouraging other journalists to “steal our stories.” Other
newsrooms like Meduza select particular news to CC license, such as the Russian
invasion of Ukraine, to spread it as widely as possible.
02
The Conversation’s Joel Abrams notes that “because of the CC licenses on our articles, 60% of
authors get contacted by other media agencies [for additional stories].” He says almost half of
The Conversation's readership comes through republication, “so by using Creative Commons
licensing we are doubling our reach.”In a 2019 interview with CC, Meduza noted how CC licensing
their news articles about a detained investigative journalist ultimately got him freed.
When smaller newsrooms republish major stories, they can reallocate their staff and limited
resources to chasing under-reported stories in their immediate communities. Other outlets can
republish stories from the other side of the world to broaden their coverage in ways not
previously possible. For example, a newspaper in Kenya could republish an article from Myanmar
about a major protest, or a website in Canada could republish a story from Brazil about
conservation efforts.
Publications that openly license content run the gamut of news media. Deshabhimani, one of the
largest print newspapers in the Indian state of Kerala, publishes under the CC BY license while
Spanish newspaper El Salto uses CC BY-SA. Some local news websites like The City in New York
release their work under the CC BY-NC-ND, while regional investigative outfits like Mekong Eye in
Southeast Asia use CC BY. Spanish feminist magazine Pikrara publishes under CC BY-NC-ND, as
does the Colombian counter-culture magazine Cartel Urbano. The list goes on.
What Creative Commons licenses mean for journalists
All original, creative work is automatically granted copyright.¹ Where traditional copyright
reserves all rights for the creator, or copyright holder, of the work, Creative Commons licenses are
considered “some rights reserved.”
They offer more flexible permissions, which ensure the creator still gets credit for their work, but
can choose how others can use, share and/or adapt their work. CC licenses are considered the
global standard of open licenses because (a) they operate world wide, having been designed and
vetted by legal experts and aligned to international copyright laws; (b) they are interoperable;
and (c) they are dedicated to the public domain, and therefore free to use forever. The license
permissions last for the duration of the work’s copyright. They are enforceable, just as any
traditionally copyrighted content is enforceable.²
[1] Over 180 countries are signatories to the Berne Convention, an international treaty to protect creative
works and the rights of authors. Under the Berne Convention, copyright is automatically granted to a work of
original, creative expression.
[2] Though, like traditionally copyrighted works, enforceability may be easier in some contexts where you
register your work at a copyright office.
03
Those new to Creative Commons can familiarize themselves with the six different licenses
on CC's About CC Licenses web page. They’re straightforward and generally compatible
with everyday journalistic practices. The different licenses have different conditions, or
elements.
Licenses like CC BY or CC BY-SA have minimal restrictions and afford "downstream users"
more options for reuse. Licenses such as CC BY-NC or CC BY-ND have more restrictions. The
license you choose directly impacts your immediate audience and future audiences' access
to your work. To support the greatest access and reuse of resources, we recommend using
licenses with minimal restrictions wherever possible.
Journalists and editors sometimes get confused by the two NC, or “Non-Commercial”
licenses. These licenses allow content to be reused, as long as it’s not reused for
commercial gain. For-profit news publication can still republish stories with CC’s Non-
Commercial licenses, as long as they do so without the intent for commercial gain.
For example, ProPublica uses the CC BY-NC-ND license but clarifies that this does not
preclude normal journalistic use:
…It’s okay to put our stories on pages with ads, but not ads
specifically sold against our stories. You can’t state or imply that
donations to your organization support ProPublica’s work…
The Citizen Bulletin, a public interest journalism website in Zimbabwe, takes a similar
approach:
“We’re keen to reach as many people as we can with our stories.
We encourage other organizations of all types to republish our
stories for free under a Creative Commons ‘Attribution’ license,
subject to the following additional terms…
…You must not resell the story or sell ads against the story. It’s fine
to publish the story on a page that’s surrounded by previously sold
ads, however.”
In other words, a publication that generates revenue from advertising or has subscribers
can often still republish these articles that are shared under non-commercial CC licenses.
The licenses are more about preventing random people from selling a specific article and
flipping it for a profit. But always double check each publication’s own guidelines to be
sure.
04
There are abundant opportunities to CC license works, and reuse other’s CC licensed content for
better news. To support news outlets, we’ve provided a preliminary guide below.
"Protestas Lima Diciembre 2022 (18)" by Mayimbú, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
How to Openly License Your Work — It’s Easy!
To CC license content, there are two steps: First, the
copyright holder of a work needs to choose one of six
licenses or two public domain tools to apply to their
work. CC has a license chooser that helps creators
determine which license will best meet their needs. CC
recommends using the more permissive licenses
whenever possible, to increase access to the
resources.
Second, once creators select a license, they can copy
and paste the license text and links into their work, or "Write To Ignite (blue)" by Ilian Iliev, licensed CC-BY-NC-SA 4.0
copy the code into their web editor. We recommend
using the most permissive license that meets your
needs.
How to Attribute — It’s Also Easy!
Navigating copyright laws can confound journalists and editors, but Creative Commons licenses
are deliberately designed to be hassle-free.
More often than not, an editor can add the correct Creative Commons attribution much the same
way they’d normally write photo credits or bylines from syndicated articles. It’s a flexible system
that’s able to gel with different publishing conventions and house styles.
05
Attributing CC Photos in Journalism
You can attribute CC photos the same way
you would normally credit a photo from an
agency or even a staff photographer. In
both cases, you usually need to mention
the name of the photographer and either
the organization they belong to or where
you found the photo.
But with Creative Commons, it’s best to
also include the specific CC license. You
can phrase it like so: CC BY-SA 4.0. Think of
this as an alternative to including a
copyright symbol.
So, instead of “Jane Doe / Reuters” you could instead say “Jane Doe / “Self portrait” on
Flickr / CC BY-SA 4.0” and provide the relevant links. Creative Commons has more detail on
recommended practices for attribution, and recommends linking to the “human
readable” form of the CC license you choose.
Unfortunately, some journalists and editors do occasionally slip up. Don’t just say “Credit:
Wiki” or “Source: Creative Commons”. This doesn’t name the photographer or the license.
After all, Wikimedia Commons is a repository and Creative Commons is an organization.
The attribution can be placed where
publications usually include photo credits,
such as in the captions beneath images.
Although it’s best practice to include a
hyperlink to the source of the photo, this
isn’t possible in many CMSs and is not
mandatory. After all, a print newspaper
wouldn’t be able to include a hyperlink,
either.
For publications that do not include captions
Example of CC licensed photo for journalism:
beneath lead images or other photos, editors
"Gate in front of the Queen's Sandringham Residence
can still include the proper Creative in Norfolk, England" by Ross Dunn,
Commons attribution at the bottom of the licensed CC BY-SA 2.0
article.
06
Attributing CC Articles
In many cases, a news outlet can republish a CC-licensed article much the same way it
would syndicate an article from a newswire service.
Make sure to list the original journalist(s) in the byline. Some publications also ask that the
original masthead itself be mentioned in the byline.
Then, at top or the bottom of the article, list the original headline with a hyperlink back to
the source, along with the journalist(s) and the specific CC license (also linked). Some
publications have a preference for either the top or the bottom of the article, while others
don’t.
Some publications like The Conversation even provide a handy template to include at the
bottom of the article:
“This article is republished from The Conversation under a
Creative Commons license. Read the original article [insert
hyperlink here].”
The most open Creative Commons licenses like CC BY or CC BY-SA allow the user to remix
the work however they see fit. They can cut down an article or mix it with other works or
make any changes they’d like. Some alterations, such as removing the final paragraphs
from an inverted pyramid article in order to fit on a newspaper page, are pretty standard
in journalism. Others, such as removing important context, could be considered
journalistic malpractice. The same responsibilities apply to CC-licenced works just as they
would to reusing any other article.
For example, 360info states:
“Publishing via Creative Commons 4.0 International means you
can use all or part of an article. Take sentences to repurpose as
quotes within your own reporting, or use our framing articles to
deliver informed background.”
07
Other Creative Commons licenses that include the ND or “No-Derivatives” element
stipulate that others cannot remix a particular work. However, format changes are
allowed under copyright law! Many publications that release their articles under these
licenses still allow others to make minor changes regarding style and other conventions,
such as a British publication changing “soccer” to “football” when republishing an
American article. Or a website in Fiji could change “NSW ICAC” to “the New South Wales
Independent Commission Against Corruption” when reusing an Australian article.
“Yesterday” could be changed to “on Monday” in a republished article, and so on. House
style rules relating to punctuation also fall into this category.
Aspen Journalism publishes its articles under the CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 license. It states:
“…you can’t edit our material, except to reflect relative changes in
time, location, and editorial style; if you’re republishing online, you
have to link to us and include all of the links in the story…””
However, some publications that use CC BY-NC-ND such as Brazilian science magazine
Pesquisa FAPESP, chose not to make exceptions to the No-Derivatives element. Pesquisa
FAPESP uses a CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 license, noting:
“Licensed content, including headlines and subheadlines, must be
reproduced in its entirety and must not be edited without the
express permission of Pesquisa FAPESP. If in doubt, contact us by
email before republishing.”
As a matter of courtesy, try to check if that publication has other requirements or
requests, such as notifying them after the fact or tagging the original publication on social
media.
08
Keep in mind: Attribution is not complicated, but it is vital to sharing knowledge. It’s
also a matter of transparency. Journalists and editors will be familiar with this principle
when using photos from agencies or syndicating articles from newswires. Attributing the
original author of a work is also required by many countries’ copyright laws.
South African news website GroundUp, which mainly publishes under Creative Commons
licenses, succinctly explains the philosophy behind Open Journalism:
“We want our articles to be republished. You are welcome and
encouraged to copy nearly any article or photo we publish, so long
as you credit GroundUp, you credit the author(s) or
photographer(s), and you don't make any substantive edits to the
article or photo. It's also nice if you include a link back to the
article or photo on our site.
Failing to credit GroundUp, the authors or photographers is
plagiarism. We get very cross when that happens, and there's no
good reason to do it.”
Ready to use Creative Commons-licensed content?
Journalists already flock directly to websites like Openverse,
Flickr or Wikimedia Commons to find CC-licensed photos.
Between both sites, they have hundreds of millions of freely-
usable photos.
Wikimedia Commons is the image repository associated with Wikipedia and its sister
projects. It has thousands of high-quality, newsworthy photos of political events, natural
disasters, sports, people and places, with users uploading new photos every minute.
The best way to navigate Wikimedia Commons is not by searching, but by browsing
categories.
09
Sometimes it can be easiest to find the relevant
page on Wikipedia, click a relevant photo, and
then search through the categories listed at the
bottom of the page. But beware, not every file
on Wikimedia Commons has a Creative
Commons license, so always double check the
file’s description. "cc" by Kalexanderson, licensed CC BY 2.0.
CC Search shows users where to find CC-
licensed photos, video and audio across
different sources, such as Openverse; Openverse
is a search engine that trawls websites and the
digital archives of museums, art galleries and
scientific institutions around the world that
have released photos and audio files under CC
licenses. Google’s Advanced Image Search also
allows users to search for CC-licensed photos
with the “usage rights” filter; however many of “Open Is Beautiful” by Tetiana Korniichuk, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
the images that make it through the filter are
not CC licensed.
Finding publications that release entire articles
under Creative Commons licenses can be a little
trickier. In general, these publications will
mention Creative Commons at the bottom of
the page where copyright info is usually found.
Some also have dedicated pages encouraging
other outlets to reuse their works.
"Support Quality Journalism (series, 2/3)" by Daniela Yankova, licensed
CC BY-SA 4.0.
The global aggregator of CC-licensed articles is
Open Newswire. It displays the latest news
article from hundreds of news courses in about
90 languages. Many of these articles are
published under Creative Commons licenses,
while others are allowed to be republished
under similar schemes.
10
"Watercolor painting of the earth with hot gradient" by Martin Eklund,
marked with CC0 1.0.
Users can select their language from the left-
hand side. The newest articles are shown at the
top of the page, just like a newswire. Next to
each headline is a tag showing what license the
article is released under. Users can hover this
for more information, and click on it to read
each publication’s own terms and conditions (if
there are any). Articles on specific topics or
locations can be found using the search bar at
the top of the page.
The idea is that by combining articles from
different sources around the world, the end
result can resemble a comprehensive
newswire. The strongest feeds are in English,
Portuguese and Spanish. Other languages that
have relatively comprehensive feeds include
Arabic, Catalan, French, German, Hindi,
Russian and Swahili.
"Al Jazeera News Floor Vertical" by rejon, marked with CC0 1.0
For more information about OpenNewswire,
contact info@opennewswire.org.
For more information about CC licensing your
works, or reusing others’ CC licensed content,
visit the CC FAQ page, the CC Certificate
training resources, or contact
learning@creativecommons.org for a
consultation.
CC also offers free “office hours” with our
copyright lawyers and periodic trainings.
We hope this helps you get started!
“The Future Is Open” by Preeti Singh, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 11
A Journalist’s Guide to Creative Commons
Published 24 May 2023
Except where otherwise noted, this document is published under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0
International license (CC BY 4.0).
Recommended attribution: "A Journalist’s Guide to Creative Commons 2023" by Zac Crellin and Jennryn
Wetzler for Creative Commons, licensed CC BY 4.0.
You are free to:
Share — copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format
Adapt — remix, transform, and build upon the material
for any purpose, even commercially.
The licensor cannot revoke these freedoms as long as you follow the license terms.
Under the following terms:
Attribution — You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made.
You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use.
No additional restrictions — You may not apply legal terms or technological measures that legally restrict
others from doing anything the license permits.
