Mail Online has hit back at claims it is lifting stories from rivals in Australia by saying they also take its work.
Describing Australian media executives as “King Canutes”, Mail Online has told News Corp titles to stop using its stories with attribution only to a “British newspaper” and to end their policy of almost never linking to rivals.
The move comes after News Corp Australia listed ten articles which it said had been lifted from its titles by Mail Online and threatened to sue for breach of copyright.
Daily Mail Australia said in a statement: “News Corp’s accusations are preposterous. This is a cynical attempt to damage the reputation of Mail Online and its hard-working journalists.”
And it has listed its own examples of lifted content including the example above from the Australian Daily Telegraph.
It features a screengrab of a picture taken from Mail Online which is credited.
Mail Online has also complained that a detailed report in the Daily Telegraph following on from its exclusive video showing members of the pop band One Direction smoking a joint fails to link to the Mail Online video.
Daily Mail Australia said: “When carrying Mail Online or Daily Mail material we have discovered that News Corp often neglect to name their source and even when they do, they most often don’t provide a link back to the original story.
“Rupert Murdoch is a brilliant, buccaneering innovator who built a global media empire by challenging old business models and vested interests. How sad that the King Canutes now running his Australian print operation are so unfamiliar with how the modern digital world works.
“At the Daily Mail Australia we aim to break news stories each day and have already begun to do so
“However, like all news media – in particular the giant American digital news-aggregation sites – we also follow up on the stories of the day that have been covered elsewhere.
“At Mail Online we pride ourselves that when we tackle a story in the public domain we always try to add some new piece of information, pictures or video. And if we rely on material from another news organisation’s stories we ensure that the source is clearly attributed and include a hyperlink that directs our readers back to the original story – in common with best web aggregation practice. Sadly this courtesy does not hold true at News Corp."
Mail Online says it has created 50 new reporting jobs in Australia.
A News Corp Australia spokesman said: "We stand by the fact that we believe the Daily Mail Australia is breaching our copyright by lifting substantial slabs of original content from a large number of articles from our mastheads."
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