It’s flattering to see that our provision of a local news service has been a success in our three-year existence, to the extent that the Labour Party in Aberdeen has used the title “Aberdeen Voice” for its election communication to the electors of Aberdeen Donside.
We can see why some have raised their eyebrows at this, and wish to make it clear that we are non-partisan when it comes to political issues and will consider publishing material, whatever its political viewpoint as long as it conforms to the standards of decency and truth on which we’re based and which we’re proud to uphold.
The Labour Party’s communication is its business, not ours. We feel it unfortunate that they have chosen, carelessly, it seems, a title that has come to mean non-partisan and fair journalism to those who have been with us for our three years of publication.
We have nothing to do with this piece of election material and hope that our neutrality has not been compromised.
Thanks for sticking with us.
- Comments enabled – see comments box below. Note, all comments will be moderated.
The Lib-Dems once did the same a few years ago when putting out a pre-election newsletter called “Ferryhill Focus” to the public – the same name as our own strictly non-political Community Council Quarterly Newsletter which had been published for years and distributed all over Ferryhill. However, as we always supplied the British Library and Aberdeen Central Library with a copy, I, as Editor, complained to Aberdeen City Council and the L-Ds had to cease using the name immediately. Unfortunately, I presume that as ‘Aberdeen Voice’ is not a printed publication, it possibly doesn’t have any copyright protection? Correct me if I am wrong!
Irene Bryce, Ferryhill, Aberdeen.
Not sure Irene, you make some very good points here. Aberdeen Voice has been on the go for 3 years and is non-partisan. I am not sure how old the Aberdeen Labour party is.
Irene,
The name Aberdeen Voice wouldn’t fall under the auspices of Copyright Law, instead it’d come under Trademark laws. Copyright is to do with the creation and protection of original material whereas Trademark laws protect the identity of brands and companies.
In any case the there is little to no difference between a printed document or a web document and in AV’s case we can prove that we’ve been publishing for that period by showing old articles and also the fact we own the domain name for that period. That would be sufficient for copyright law, but for trademark we’d need to register the name/branding with the IPO.