This review of the literature addresses the issue of the fair use doctrine and its application to off-air taping of news and nonnews programs broadcast by radio and television. Conclusions drawn include: a temporary arrangement has yet to be reached between copyright proprietors and educators wishing to use copyrighted works for nonprofit, educational purposes; the burden of establishing a fair use defense falls upon the defendant; there is more latitude for educators' off-air taping of news-type programs (other than documentaries) than for popular entertainment-type programs; although a subsection of the Copyright Act of 1976 permits a library or archives to make a copy of all or a portion of audiovisual news programs and to distribute by loan a limited number of such copies, the networks interpret this section differently; and the copying of complete broadcast programs or substantial portions of such programs constitutes a higher risk than videotaping smaller portions of programs, especially of the audiovisual news program type. (AEA)