Amateur Photography and News Submissions

This evening I have discovered Mark Hamilton's blog Notes from a Teacher and have been trailing through his archives. A post of note was Protesting "Amateurs" from back in August. The issue is somewhat more sinister than I first gave reckoning.

It revolves hand in hand with citizen journalism but images are treated a little differently from words when it comes to ownership. Large media organisations will likely claim rights to all photos a reader submits as part of the small print to get out of any legal wrangling.

This puts two things on the line: Professional's pride and jobs. Free amateur photography live at the scene will have an appeal to both hard profiteering corporations and those in genuine desire to bring all the news as real as it can be.

It is a contentious issue, whether to seek payment or not for such works.

The idea of media offering payment for all citizen journalism images may be dangerous in that it might provide an incentive for citizens to put themselves in the way of danger. But it doesn’t seem fair that in submitting an image to a media organization, the creator is in effect signing away copyright.

Should citizens really be so foolish as to endanger their life for meagre profit. I would hope not, but the green does funny things to the mind.

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Citizen Journalism Amateur News Photography