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36 minutes ago, Starsphinx said:

I know where I am there is a regional daily paper as well as weekly locals and daily nationals (I am in the Western Daily Press area).  I have no idea whether other areas have a similar regional - maybe they don't and the reason that local news stuff does not sell in the UK is a market lack.  All I know is I would expect to see stories on serious road accidents, protests, significant planning applications from the UK on the newsfeed.  If a circus in Pakistan is news,  if a road forum in China is news are not the same things here news?  Yes I know it is about what sells - but if you tell me a circus in Pakistan sells I am going to be very doubtful.

Edit - when I say local news I mean local news that happens outside of London - London is well covered.

 

Do local newspapers actually pay for photography these days? Would they actually license a picture from Alamy or anywhere else? Where I live (Peterborough, population around 200,000), what used to be the local daily paper is now a weekly, everything is now online and the photography appears to be mainly citizen journalism provided free. The local Toys'R'Us burned down a few nights ago which is probably the biggest thing that has happened here since the Fiona Onasanya debacle. You can judge the photography and where it was sourced yourself but I doubt they paid a penny for it.  The quality of the imagery speaks for itself.

Edited by MDM
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3 minutes ago, MDM said:

 

Do local newspapers actually pay for photography these days? Would they actually license a picture from Alamy or anywhere else? Where I live (Peterborough, population around 170,000), what used to be the local daily paper is now a weekly, everything is now online and the photography appears to be mainly citizen journalism provided free. The local Toys'R'Us burned down a few nights ago which is probably the biggest thing that has happened here since the Fiona Onasanya debacle. You can judge the photography and where it was sourced yourself but I doubt they paid a penny for it.  The quality of the imagery speaks for itself.

I would say it depends entirely on which group owns the local newspapers and what their plans are for them.  I live close to the edge of a county and my main activity is shooting football - I cover several teams in a couple of different leagues. 

In the county where I live the locals are owned by Newsquest.  The Newsquest plan seems to be to turn them from new to community service.  They have been cutting and cutting staff for several years (way before I got interested) - they plead poverty (Newsquest is not in any way shape or form in poverty) and get people to send in photos and stories free "to get their byline in the paper".  3 years ago they had a couple of pro photojournalists and would pay club photographers (the role I am in now) for shots.  They now  use photographers on a daily contract basis (and boy do they make that day work).  They will not pay club photographers - so club photographers do not provide photos and they use a single stock photo of 2 pairs of legs and a football (the legs are not even in any local team colours) to report on any match below division 2.  Their reports are pants too.  They are not much better on actual news like major accidents and stuff - they have photographers on call but will get stuff off Joe Public for nothing if they can and at least once have totally failed to report anything on a biggish story - the attempted murder I covered because it was just down the road.

Compare that with the neighbouring county where the group is owned by Trinity Mirror - not only do they pay club photographers but they will send staff photographer/reporters to matches 5 leagues lower than division 2.  Not every match but if they have someone spare they go to a match where there is not a resident club photographer shoot it and report on it.  They also pay freelancers for covering local events like carnivals etc if they have not got staff available.  By all feedback their reporting is better, their coverage is better and they have a much better customer base.  They are old fashioned news - not community service.  

I know the first uses ordinary stock images - not sure where from - and uses them badly.  I do not know if the second would buy from Alamy for the simple fact if I come across something in their area I will approach them directly because they will pay.  The regional I spoke about definitely uses agencies - and will also pay direct.   Looking at the NUJ site on local papers some are decent - and genuinely strapped for cash but will pay what they can - while others the NUJ goes as far as refusing to recommend photographers deal with them.  If someone says a local paper is saying they cannot afford to pay for photography I say look and see who owns it - because the chances are it is owned by a big group who while not rolling in can certainly afford to pay for photography - if people stopped sending it for free.

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I have done some stuff for Newsquest. The rumour at the time was that they got a bonus for the paper that paid the least for photography, although I have never seen any proof that this was true. They stopped asking me to cover events when I asked them to cover some of my expenses. In response to that, they just got some young lad who was willing to do it for free instead. 

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21 minutes ago, Starsphinx said:

get people to send in photos and stories free "to get their byline in the paper". 

- they have photographers on call but will get stuff off Joe Public for nothing if they can

 - if people stopped sending it for free.

In a nutshell. You’re not going to stop local/regional papers from getting all the photos they need for free.

My local paper won’t pay for anything at all.

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3 minutes ago, Bigjimh71 said:

I have done some stuff for Newsquest. The rumour at the time was that they got a bonus for the paper that paid the least for photography, although I have never seen any proof that this was true. They stopped asking me to cover events when I asked them to cover some of my expenses. In response to that, they just got some young lad who was willing to do it for free instead. 

They definitely have one of the worst reputations.   

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3 minutes ago, Sally said:

In a nutshell. You’re not going to stop local/regional papers from getting all the photos they need for free.

My local paper won’t pay for anything at all.

Pretty much the same here too. They also use generic images from Google Street View rather than a picture illustrating the actual news story. 

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2 minutes ago, Sally said:

In a nutshell. You’re not going to stop local/regional papers from getting all the photos they need for free.

My local paper won’t pay for anything at all.

For me its a balancing act - there are 2 local town papers, family-owned going for generations, who really are on shoestring budgets.  They are invariably polite in requests and offer an advertisement (an actual box print advert not an attribution) instead of fees which I have no issue with.  My problem is with the likes of Newsquest who have multimillion pound turnover and won't pay diddly.  It does provide a sticking point - clubs want their games reported if they do not provide the free image they do not get mentioned, so continue providing it free.

 

3 minutes ago, Keith Douglas said:

Pretty much the same here too. They also use generic images from Google Street View rather than a picture illustrating the actual news story. 

This could go on for pages.  All I can say is not all are the same - there are still good guys out there and I hope over time they will get back into the ascendency because they provide better quality - and people will discover that again.

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3 hours ago, Shergar said:

The times have changed .

 

 

"That means an exclusive “Just Like Us” photo that would have fetched $5,000 to $15,000 before, now pays only $5 or $10."

 That was an interesting article (with a couple Alamy shots!). Thanks for sharing.

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5 hours ago, Sally said:

In a nutshell. You’re not going to stop local/regional papers from getting all the photos they need for free.

My local paper won’t pay for anything at all.

 

My local paper does not pay a lot per image but it can mount up. Just checked my spreadsheet for that paper and since June last year stands at mid $1500 so no small beans for the effort.

Andy.

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16 hours ago, aphperspective said:

 

My local paper does not pay a lot per image but it can mount up. Just checked my spreadsheet for that paper and since June last year stands at mid $1500 so no small beans for the effort.

Andy.

 

My local paper never pays

Even when i am the only one who got the shot - they still won't pay

Shame it come to that but i won't supply them for free

 

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15 minutes ago, Foreign Export said:

 

My local paper never pays

Even when i am the only one who got the shot - they still won't pay

Shame it come to that but i won't supply them for free

 

Ditto, no matter how nicely they ask.

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On 25/04/2019 at 10:56, MDM said:

 

Do local newspapers actually pay for photography these days? Would they actually license a picture from Alamy or anywhere else?

Yes and sometimes.

 

APHPerspective and myself live in the back end of Ireland (not together lol) and our local rag and local very small magazine both pay for images which are sent in on spec by photographers.  Fees aren't earth-shattering, but, dependent on how newsworthy the pics are and of course how many photos one contributes, the end of month bank transfers can add up to a nice amount of money.

 

Both the local and national paper which are produced in Cork pay better fees for picture usage, the national uses Alamy pics from time to time. 

 

With all that said, some very small papers and not so small magazines refuse to pay for pics, but they'll give you a credit, which apparently 'will do you and your business the world of good, Andy'.  Yeah, F@*% Off, you're not using any of my pics!

 

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51 minutes ago, Colblimp said:

Yes and sometimes.

 

APHPerspective and myself live in the back end of Ireland (not together lol) 

 

I consider West Cork to be the front end of Ireland, not the back end, facing the Atlantic and all that 😀. I guess it is a matter of perspective. Talking of which, are you ready for Storm Hannah? Sounds like she is going to be a wild one.

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3 minutes ago, MDM said:

 

I consider West Cork to be the front end of Ireland, not the back end, facing the Atlantic and all that 😀. I guess it is a matter of perspective. Talking of which, are you ready for Storm Hannah? Sounds like she is going to be a wild one.

It's definitely the arse end lol! 😂

 

I'm ready for Hannah - one of the nationals rang me yesterday looking for pics - 'we'll probably run with a front page and 2 or 3 more inside'.  Nice!

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If it's of any consolation to those who got the chop, with the newspaper sales reports coming in at the moment the figures for live news are roughly half of what I would have expected from similar sales of not many months ago. Sad times

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2 hours ago, Colblimp said:

It's definitely the arse end lol! 😂

 

I'm ready for Hannah - one of the nationals rang me yesterday looking for pics - 'we'll probably run with a front page and 2 or 3 more inside'.  Nice!

Your so far out in the boonies the postman needs a compass. 😊

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5 hours ago, Foreign Export said:

 

My local paper never pays

Even when i am the only one who got the shot - they still won't pay

Shame it come to that but i won't supply them for free

 

 

5 hours ago, Sally said:

Ditto, no matter how nicely they ask.

The problem is getting the word out to everyone to refuse to provide for free.
NUJ ran a campaign last year - but I dont know if it is still going. https://www.nuj.org.uk/campaigns/useitpayforit/

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45 minutes ago, Starsphinx said:

 

The problem is getting the word out to everyone to refuse to provide for free.
NUJ ran a campaign last year - but I dont know if it is still going. https://www.nuj.org.uk/campaigns/useitpayforit/

That’s just not going to work. The average person, who has no aspirations to be a professional photographer will be more than happy to simply get a credit with their name in the paper.

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2 hours ago, Avpics said:

If it's of any consolation to those who got the chop, with the newspaper sales reports coming in at the moment the figures for live news are roughly half of what I would have expected from similar sales of not many months ago. Sad times

This is very worrying. If live news prices have fallen so much then it simply makes it not worth the effort. I got two invoices today for which I would normally expect to get around $50 at only $14. That’s a massive reduction and makes them about the same as stock images.

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I mainly do concert and festival photography. When I first started I worked for one of the local papers for free in order to get into events. It was the only way I could get the access I needed to move forward. When the paper started asking me to cover things in a wider area I told them they would have to cover my expenses. Our association pretty much ended there as they are not willing to pay anything.

Saying we should all refuse to give shots for free will never work because there are people like myself who have to do that in order to build their portfolio of work and move forward. You will also always have the amateur who is just happy to have there shot used in the paper.  Let's face it, with modern camera systems you don't need the shot to be that good in order for it to look good in print size.

Jessica at live news has today pointed out to me that I missed focus on one of my shots from Reading Festival last year. The shot was brought and published by The Times.

 

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5 minutes ago, Sally said:

That’s just not going to work. The average person, who has no aspirations to be a professional photographer will be more than happy to simply get a credit with their name in the paper.

I could probably live with that - my issue is when small organisations and sports clubs are almost being held hostage.  They want and need the local paper to write about them and cover them - and the local paper won't do so without a photo - so their choice is to send a free photo or don't get coverage.   Then I when I am asked to cover something for them (its cup final season) they want to use one of my photos but I won't let it be used without payment.

 

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1 minute ago, Bigjimh71 said:

I mainly do concert and festival photography. When I first started I worked for one of the local papers for free in order to get into events. It was the only way I could get the access I needed to move forward. When the paper started asking me to cover things in a wider area I told them they would have to cover my expenses. Our association pretty much ended there as they are not willing to pay anything.

Saying we should all refuse to give shots for free will never work because there are people like myself who have to do that in order to build their portfolio of work and move forward. You will also always have the amateur who is just happy to have there shot used in the paper.  Let's face it, with modern camera systems you don't need the shot to be that good in order for it to look good in print size.

Jessica at live news has today pointed out to me that I missed focus on one of my shots from Reading Festival last year. The shot was brought and published by The Times.

 

I totally and utterly accept the necessity for some sort of exchange of photos for experience in these areas but some big groups take advantage to extremes.   As for modern camera systems you don't need the shot to be that good - if that was the case photographers would not be paid at all - and we are.  The fact of the matter is that newbie is not taking as good shots as that experienced guy - and yes Joe Public can tell (at least I presume that is why he keeps buying my sports shots when he was there taking his own)
There needs to be a balance and for me, that balance is somewhere in the profit and turnover sheets.  When a local claiming it cannot afford to pay £5 for a photo is owned by a big group posting a net profit after tax of over £40 million that is out and out abuse and totally unacceptable.

I will, and have, donated photography for nothing to charities and good causes.  I will, and have, work to find an arrangement with small local shoestring operations.  I will not work for free when it comes to big groups pleading poverty while enjoying profits I cannot dream of.  I will advise anyone and everyone who asks me not to work for free for such groups.

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