i live in some apartments in the centre of manchester. last monday night we heard a ruckus outside and saw loads of kids milling about, then loads of sirens and the police rushed over and barricaded off a road. my girlfriend and i were watching from our balcony and she took a photo of the police gathering on the road. it seemed like a big deal, over half a dozen police cars and vans and a helicopter out yet the next day there was nothing in the local newspaper (manchester evening news) or on the related manchesteronline website, or bbc manchester. i emailed both the MEN newsdesk and bbc manchester describing what we'd seen and asked why it hadn't been covered. i said we'd taken a low-quality picture of it all.
the MEN newsdesk replied saying there were conflicting reports and asked for the photo, so i sent it over. the next day apparently it was the front page story of the MEN (i didnt see it, i didn't pick up the paper that day) but i checked the website and there was a full story about it, including a cropped version of the picture i sent in. it's the top picture on here:
http://www DOT manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/s/1048474_probe_after_peace_activist_arrest
then i checked the bbc manchester site - they never got back to me - and saw this:
http://news.bbc.co DOT uk/1/hi/england/manchester/7388620.stm
and this:
http://news.bbc.co DOT uk/1/hi/england/7388917.stm
im wondering if it's legal for the MEN to use this picture online (and im assuming in the newspaper too) without asking for permission from the person who took the picture? is it something to do with this whole new citizen journalism thing? and is it ok for the bbc to take this picture and again, without asking or contacting us at all, use it online (judging from the final link above im guessing it was used on bbc1's north-west tonight show too)?
i spoke to a professional photographer last night and he said it's fine for the MEN and bbc to do that but the onus is on us to chase it up and demand payment, is this right? incidentally my girlfriend does the photos for this if that has any bearing on it (the picture in question was done on a crappy little camera though, obviously not pro stuff)
― NI, Sunday, 11 May 2008 20:39 (seventeen years ago)
It's sort-of right. They shouldn't be using the pic without asking, but you did send it to them, which implies you want it used. You now have two options:
1) Bill them for the picture at their standard rate.
2) Try and bill them some exceptional amount for yr exclusive shot. This will go on forever, and could end up in small claims court.
The MEN will probably just pay their standard rate, especially if they put it in the newspaper. The BBC probably won't pay anything, but will either credit the photo or take it off their site. Either way, get in touch with the Picture Editor at the MEN tomorrow.
― stet, Sunday, 11 May 2008 20:52 (seventeen years ago)
thanks stet, we'll go for option 1. not *really* expecting anything but it's interesting how this all works. i was most surprised at the bbc simply lifting the photo to use for themselves - i can't imagine the MEN passed it onto them as they're rival organisations so they must have just downloaded it from the site.
― NI, Sunday, 11 May 2008 21:28 (seventeen years ago)