I run a small weblog/journal, and often write rants regarding recent
events. I would like to link to the original news article, but more
often than not, the original is removed from the site within a
week/month.

I am looking for the answer to one or both questions (preferably the
first):

1. Does U.S. law allow me to post a copy of the news article on my
website without express consent by the copyright holder? (It is
non-profit)

2. Is there a free, publically available archive of news articles
online?

Dear Zarkon,

I'll expand a little bit about what's said in the comments regarding
copyright.  As you know, there's a "fair use" exception to copyright. 
Almost always, you can't reproduce entire works of copyrighted
material without permission, and certainly not for the purposes you've
stated.  Here are a couple references you may find useful:

10 Big Myths about copyright explained
"Fair use is usually a short excerpt and almost always attributed.
(One should not use more of the work than is necessary to make the
commentary.) It should not harm the commercial value of the work -- in
the sense of people no longer needing to buy it (which is another
reason why reproduction of the entire work is a problem.)"
http://www.templetons.com/brad/copymyths.html

A Fair-Use Case Study: Using Copyrighted Materials On The World Wide
Web
This article looks at the legal issues involved in placing a magazine
article on the World Wide Web.  The bottom line is that under some
circumstances you MIGHT be able to may be able to post an entire
article for the purpose of critiquing it.  Also, you can lose the
claim to fair use of your posting of an article is to replace its
availability by the copyright holder.
http://www.iupui.edu/~copyinfo/fucasestudy.html

If you want to link to articles that aren't going to disappear right
away, I'd suggest CNN or the Washington Post.  Currently, it appears
that their articles remain available for a considerable time.  I can't
guarantee that will always be the case, however, as more sites are
charging for archive access.

CNN
http://cnn.com

Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com

Best wishes with your blog,

mvguy




Google search: copyright law fair use
://www.google.com/search?q=copyright+law+fair+use&num=25

Hi Zarkon-

I don't have the web citations for this, but, as a freelance
journalist, I can tell you that you may not reprint a full news
article without permission from/payment to the copyright holder. You
may quote parts of it with attribution.  The length of such a quote is
variable but generally just enough to make your point... i.e.  a
paragraph or two.

As for sources of articles --
If your public library provides access to EBSCO Host, it includes a
newspaper article database.
You might also want to look at
http://newslink.org/   and  http://www.headlinespot.com/

Nellie Bly

Nellie Bly is correct about copyright.

I'm not sure what kind of news archive you're talking about, but I've
found that links to articles at http://cnn.com stay valid for a long
time.  Here's an example:
http://www.cnn.com/2000/ALLPOLITICS/stories/11/08/election.president/

Zarkon,

Just to let you know that most newspapers, such as Washington Post that
have internet site do keep the most recently articles up for a time but
there is a limit.  washingtonpost.com keeps their articles up for about
10 - 14 days, after that it is archived with a fee to be pulled back
up.  Nellie Bly mentioned EBSCO host as a good resource for your
readers
at the nearest library, LEXIS-NEXIS is also a good database to use if
the library has a subscription to it.  

Robin