The hidden cost of documentaries: copyright clearances

They're hardly the first folks to cover it, but the Times explains that the cost of clearing copyright fees is a huge drag on documentary production. Considering the constitutional mandate to promote the progress of the useful arts and sciences, it is tragically ironic that copyright law keeps many doc's from getting produced and drains the life out of others.

For more on this, see the Untold Stories website, featuring a very thoughtful analysis (and, yes, a documentary) by Pat Aufderheide and Peter Jaszi.