Our favorite quote arising from the Shepard Fairey sentencing, was from the CEO of the Associated Press (AP), Gary Pruitt. Mr. Pruitt reportedly stated:

“We hope this case will serve as a clear reminder to all of the importance of fair compensation for those who gather and produce original news content.”

We love this quote and respect it. But call us skeptics but given with the current payment practices employed by news organizations regarding photographs, photographers (both professional and amateur) we find the quote more than a tad ironic. We believe that Mr. Pruitt’s “fair compensation” refers to payments by its customers to the AP rather than payments made to photographers.  After all AP (and many of its competitors) freely license images given to them without charge, to its customers in exchange for payment of a fee to AP.  Many of our photojournalist friends read the above quote, looked at their licensing statements and immediately conjured up the ghost of Rod Serling.  Still others immediately raised the question, “Where’s my ‘fair compensation'”?

We’re just saying.