Copyright and takedowns
How publishers' work is handled here, and how to ask us to change or remove something.
In effect from · last revised
Zambian journalism is done by Zambian journalists, and it belongs to the newsrooms that pay for it. Carrying their work here changes nothing about that, and we would rather lose a story than take one we were not given.
This page sets out what appears on Lakatips, on what basis, and how a publisher can ask us to change or remove it. If you are a publisher and something here is wrong, the last section tells you how to reach us and what we will do.
What appears here
For each story from a partner newsroom we show:
- the headline as published, re-set in ordinary case where it was filed in block capitals;
- the byline, where the publisher gives one, and the publisher’s name;
- the publication time;
- a thumbnail of the lead picture, where the publisher supplied one;
- either the complete article or its opening lines, according to the arrangement with that publisher; and
- a link to the article on the publisher’s own site.
On what basis
A complete article appears on Lakatips in four cases, and no others:
- We wrote it. Copy from the Lakatips desk, published under our own name.
- A publisher has licensed it to us, or given written permission to carry it in full.
- It is an official statement or press release issued for publication.
- It is public-domain material, or carries terms that permit reuse.
Absent one of those, the story is a headline, an extract and a link. A page being publicly readable is not permission to republish it, and a feed that happens to carry an entire story is not a licence; every publisher starts at extract-only and stays there until a written permission is on file. We do not go past a paywall, a registration wall or any other protection a publisher has put around their work.
Where a complete article was written by somebody else, the byline names the reporter and the publisher, the citation at the foot links to their own copy, and the canonical tag points at their URL so the search ranking stays with them. We never describe another newsroom’s work as Lakatips reporting.
Pictures
Permission to republish an article is not permission to republish the photographs in it, and we treat the two separately. Unless a publisher has told us their permission covers pictures, every image inside a licensed article is removed when we import it, and the only picture on the page is the thumbnail described below.
Where a publisher supplies a lead image we store a small cropped thumbnail of it, sized for the page and credited to the publisher. It illustrates the story, it does not stand in for the original. Publishers who would prefer no thumbnail need only say so and we will switch it off for their stories.
Rights
Copyright in each headline, extract, article and picture remains with the publisher named on the story, and publisher names and marks are used to identify the source of a story. The Lakatips name, design, code and the arrangement of the site are ours.
If you are a publisher
We will act on any of the following, without argument and without asking why:
- Remove a story. Tell us the URL and it goes, usually the same day.
- Remove everything. We will stop carrying your newsroom entirely and delete what we hold.
- Shorten the extract, or show the headline alone.
- Drop pictures from your stories.
- Correct attribution — a byline, a publisher name, a link.
The reverse is open to you too. If you would like your stories carried in full on Lakatips — with your name on them, a link back to your site and the canonical tag pointing at your page — write to us and we will put the permission on file and switch it on.
How to reach us
Email info@lakatips.com with “Copyright” in the subject line, or use the contact form and choose “Copyright or takedown”. To help us act quickly, please include:
- the Lakatips URL or URLs concerned;
- the material you are asking about;
- who you are and the publisher you act for; and
- what you would like us to do.
We aim to acknowledge within one working day and to act within three. Urgent requests can go to +260 97 7708285.
You do not need a lawyer to write to us and we will not ask for one. If a request is straightforward we will simply do it.
If you are a reader
You are welcome to link to and share Lakatips pages. If you want to reproduce a story, that permission is the publisher’s to give, not ours — the story page will take you to them.