Copying from newspapers

Newspapers can be a useful source of information, and you may often wish to copy and distribute this material to students or staff.  Most UK newspapers are covered by the Newspaper Licensing Agency’s Licence (NLA Licence) which permits multiple copying of cuttings subject to certain restrictions. 

If you wish to make multiple copies of foreign newspapers or UK titles not covered by the NLA Licence, you must first obtain written permission from the newspaper concerned.

If you want to make a single copy of material from any newspaper for your own or another’s private study or research for a non-commercial purpose, this may be possible under fair dealing.

The NLA Licence covers all the main UK national newspapers:

• Daily Mail, Mail on Sunday, Evening Standard
• Express, Express on Sunday, Daily Star
• Financial Times
• Guardian, Observer
• Independent, Independent on Sunday
• Mirror, Sunday Mirror, Sunday People
• Daily Telegraph, Sunday Telegraph
• Times, Sunday Times, Sun, News of the World 

Note that the Times Education, Times Higher Education  and Times Literary supplements are not included in the NLA Licence.

The NLA Licence applies only to printed newspapers, not to their web versions.   If you wish to copy and distribute material from newspapers’ websites, you would have to first obtain written permission from the newspaper concerned.   Articles from newspapers available through the LexisNexis online service may be copied according to the terms of the licence for that database – check with your subject librarian for more information.

Visit: Newspaper Licensing Agency

The NLA Licence permits the copying and circulation of cuttings from titles covered by the licence for two purposes:

• Distribution to University personnel for their internal use,
• Distribution to students for their educational and instruction purposes. 

For these purposes, you may make up to 250 copies of any one cutting from any one issue of a newspaper without the need for consent from the newspaper.  Each such copy or collation of copies must include a notice in the following terms: “NLA Licensed Copy.  No further copies may be made except under licence.”  If you wish to make more than 250 copies, written permission would first need to be obtained from the newspaper concerned.

Note: photographs, illustrations or advertisements appearing in newspapers are not covered by the Licence and may not be copied without express written permission from the newspaper concerned.

When copying cuttings, you should not make alterations to the size or layout of them beyond what is reasonably required for educational purposes.

Under the Licence, copies of cuttings may also be,

• Faxed,
• Included in course packs
• Projected by illumination on a screen, e.g. an OHP. 

Copies of cuttings may only be circulated to registered staff and students of the University in the UK and in those countries where the NLA does not have a licensing arrangement with a corresponding foreign organisation.  If you wish to send copies of cuttings overseas, please first contact: