In the news: The implications of SOPA for the magazine industry.

In a January 18th Foliomag.com article, TJ Raphael discusses how the original SOPA legislation might have affected magazines. The anti-piracy Internet bill, due for a cloture vote on January 24 but expected to be voted down, sparked widespread Internet protest from individuals and top sites such as Google and Wikipedia. Legislators plan to rework the bill in the coming weeks to address censorship and Internet freedom concerns.

The Association of Magazine Media (MPA) has remained relatively mum on the issue. However, in a recent statement, the association emphasized the threat that pirated content poses to its industry. However, the SOPA bill as originally written might prove detrimental to advertisers who inadvertently did business with "rogue sites" (i.e., sites with pirated content). Also at stake would be online video content, which might become a copyright infringement nightmare if shared or reposted on social media sites.

Read more about SOPA and the magazine industry here.

Also notable

Reuters Magazine?

In a reversal of recent trends, digital news service Reuters is considering a foray into print publishing. In preparation for the upcoming World Economic Forum in Switzerland, Reuters produced over 10,000 copies of a print magazine edition. The sample edition weighs in at a lean 64 pages with virtually no ad content. Read more here.

Weighing Writing Advice

In a January 19 chat session on Poynter.org, writing guru Roy Peter Clark (author of Writing Tools: 50 Essential Strategies for Every Writer) discussed the abundance of available writing advice. Chat participants discussed some of the worst writing advice they had ever received. The full transcript is available here.

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