Question on use of national agate

Hey folks.

Just got out of a meeting and the big clamor is for sports to "cover" more NASCAR, pro golf and outdoors (yawn...I know).
We are a twice-weekly that doesn't have AP or Reuters. We are mostly local content, but we do get national freebies from American Profiles (which I have no use for) and King Media.

I found a few things of use through King (a column on racing and a "Sports View" column by Mark Vasto).

Soooo, my question is can I legally use standings (NASCAR Top 20 in points), stats (winners in golf and racing) and such I find posted on Yahoo or ESPN? Is this info fair use?

Also, we have a contract with Reuters for our website, but not for the paper. Can I take a story written there and re-write the info with quotes attributed to Reuters? Just wanted to see what the thought was because I am being told by my publisher it's OK and it doesn't seem like it would be.

Thanks for the help.

 

I'll pass on the Reuters question.

As for using agate you find at NASCAR or PGA sites, I say go for it. You may wish to credit those various sites as your sources.

 

I would think the information comes across as fair use for a plethora of reasons (namely, the two that come to my head, are that it's never sourced and that it can all me tabulated as mathematical formulas, which can't be copyrighted). Just make sure that if you use it, you get it from the official Web sites.

 

spike,

Get a login for nascarmedia.com. They have a bunch of graphics and stuff, and that's where the official results come from.

 

Actually, that's a brilliant idea. Almost all of the governing bodies have their own media sites for graphics/photos/stats/etc. (as I'm sure you know), and they could probably help out a lot more.

 

Thanks ImJust...

Added to the list. Thanks for that.

Yeah, as for the Reuters thing...I'm not a fan, but if it's just one story a week I have to do it to "appease the masses", I guess it can't hurt to do. But I'm not going to build a sports page around it, especially with no access to pics.

 

There's always a way to get a foto. You may not always want to explain where it came from, but there's always a way ...

 

I found the NBA's (nba.com/media)

Anyone know off hand the MLB's, NFL's and NHL's. I'm doing some digging right now.

 

True...but I'd like to keep my job for the near future.

 

Spike, they're all on the APSE homepage: http://apse.dallasnews.com/

 

You...are a champ! Thanks for the help today everyone!

 

And BTW, your publisher is smoking Costco-sized bags of ice if he thinks this is the key to making your section click. Are they too cheap to get a syndicated NASCAR page and sell ad strips for the bottom of that?