The spread of cameraphones and the ability for anyone to publish an image instantly online is putting intense pressure on …professional press photography. Three stories … underline the change:
- First was the coverage of the helicopter crashin Vauxhall, London, where the first images to make it on to TV screens and news websites were provided by passersby tweeting within seconds of the event. The coverage was more immediate than it ever would have been in the past, though use of the images raised some interesting copyright issues.
- The second was the application for liquidation by the world’s biggest celebrity paparazzi agency Big Pictures, amid allegations of unpaid contributor fees. Agency founder Darryn Lyons put the problem quite simply: “Papers and magazines can so easily get hold of pictures, which celebrities are openly tweeting or posting on Facebook and Instagram of themselves…”
- The third was a judge’s ruling that Agence France-Presse and The Washington Post had infringed a photographer’s copyright by republishing and selling images he posted to Twitter of the Haiti earthquake in January 2010.
Read the full piece at themediabriefing.com
Professional journalists of all stripes, including photojournalists, have to distinguish themselves from the vast amount of dilettante, dabbler, user journalism that is an important part of the media ecosystem today. It’s not going to go away. It shouldn’t be ignored or undervalued by the professional. But we also should not be competing with it. When everybody can do what you do, you need to up your game.
