Emily Bell, editor-in-chief of Guardian Unlimited, writes in the Media Guardian today about the dangers of encouraging reader-reporters. It’s an issue which has been causing friction between big-media who are trying to encourage new contributors and some of the press unions here in the UK.
There was a rearguard action against citizen-journalism by some in the industry following the London bombings. The Chartered Instituted of Journalists warned against the dangers of ordinary citizens being sent to take pictures or footage of disasters as they unfold. In a report on the subject I produced for BBC Radio Sally Feldman, Head of the School of Media, Arts and Design at the University of Westminster argued that the media had always used eyewitness reports, just that they're not more immediate, and the equipment is more ubiquitous.
In the column in today’s Media Guardian, Emily Bell, again raises the concerns of the CIoJ – this time about terms and conditions for anyone submitting pictures to the Daily Telegraph newspaper.
One clause has the sender of the photograph agree “to indemnify Telegraph Group Ltd, against all legal fees, damages and other expenses that may be incurred … as a result of a breach of the above warranties.”
So it appears the Telegraph is trying to protect itself against breach of privacy, libel, or copyright. She goes on to warn:
“More menacing for both media owners and those with images they wish to share - whether via a newspaper website, a sharing site such as flickr.com or even their own blog - is how taking casual snaps can, even in seemingly innocuous circumstances, land you in trouble. Image rights owners, particularly of large and valuable events, are becoming ever more aggressive in pursuing their value.
Fifa, for instance, has decreed that during the World Cup in 2006 no website can run images of the games until an hour after final whistle - an absurd rule for what amounts to a major news as well as sporting event. … The rules of "no one would bother" seem to have also gone by the board when it comes to hunting down copyright infringements. A colleague visited a gallery in the US and took a photo of a sculpture, posted it to his blog, and was pursued by the estate of the sculptor for euros 30 for image rights infringements.”
Where would that leave the citizen-journalist who submitted contributions? It seems big media is trying to protect itself against any litigation.
Matt
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