Tina writes:

Gee, Mx is wrong again. Without copyright, a writer -- reporting news
or otherwise -- could have his material taken and used without
compensation in real time. This would have a particular impact on
writers without affiliations, who might be first on scene, dash off a
story, and have it used without getting a penny for their efforts.

In modern journalism, the speed with which you get the news to the audience is
often much more important than anything having to do with copyright. No
matter how fast the copycats are, the original writer is always the first to
have the news he has written, and that is a tremendous and usually overriding
advantage in high-speed journalism.