For about the past 50 years or so the mantra spouted by mainstream media has been that, unlike say The National Enquirer, \u00a0“We don’t pay for news”. Typically this was the answer given to photographers (and others) who were in possession of timely and valuable images or footage which they want to sell or license.\u00a0All too many amateurs actually believed such representations and then offer up their images without charge hoping that maybe, just maybe they could get a photo credit.<\/p>\n
With the advent of digital photography and especially the proliferation of cell phones, news and celebrity photography became ubiquitous.\u00a0 Media outlets receive hundreds of thousands of images monthly for which they pay little or nothing to publish. Amateurs willingly and in most instances\u00a0foolishly,<\/em>\u00a0submit their valuable images to media outlets of all types and sizes often forfeiting their rights in the images they created. \u00a0(See our articles in this blog: NY Times Rights Grab<\/a> and The NY Daily News, Part 2 <\/a>among others)<\/p>\n Ed (and countless others) has been involved in the licensing of time sensitive news photography on many occasions where the conventional or traditional news media paid money to creators for the right to use video or still images on networks and in newspapers big, small and in between. The 2014 movie “Nightcrawler” starring Jake Gyllenhaal is a fairly accurate portrayal of videographers who routinely work with and sell the rights to news footage to Los Angeles TV stations.<\/p>\n Back in real life now comes a particularly horrifying piece of video where it\u00a0appears<\/em>\u00a0that a police officer executes one, Walter Scott. As of this writing it appears that Mr. Scott is\u00a0at worst<\/em>\u00a0a guy who might owe some child support. The 50-year-old father of four was more than $7,000 behind in child support, but no bench warrant had been issued for his arrest.\u00a0The officer shot the fleeing “suspect” several times in the back. The officer has been arrested and charged with the murder. The story is carried by virtually every news service and the official police footage shot by the patrol car’s dash cam is everywhere.<\/p>\n A few days after the incident a grisly, shocking and\u00a0commercially valuable\u00a0<\/em>footage surfaces.\u00a0 This video was shot by a witness and was taken from a revealing angle.\u00a0 A media feeding frenzy ensues – such “frenzies” not being terribly unusual by the way.\u00a0 The imagery is\u00a0very obviously\u00a0valuable.\u00a0<\/em>\u00a0Media execs who are fond of saying “we don’t pay for news” are and have been for decades run to their check books. \u00a0<\/em><\/strong>If the images are valuable, the checks will be drafted.\u00a0 So it has been and always will be.\u00a0 The members of the media who say, “We don’t pay for news” are, now sit down folks, lying.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n