Does nobody monitor the News Feed any more?

[Phil Robinson]

There's a great new way to keep you photos right at the top of the news feed:
Date them 2028 and they will stay there for five years! Why didn't I think of that?

[imageplotter]

A little weekly reminder that IMAGO are still spamming the newsfeed every day and, more commonly, every night. With hundreds of stock images, filed via the newsfeed, often filed as single images. Today's offering includes dozens of single file images of supermarket product shots (lots of single shots of sweets brands, beer crates, board games, fruit and veg). All very clearly stock and not related to any news stories, neither over here nor in the country they were taken (Germany). 

 

And still no response from Alamy as to why this continues to be allowed, tolerated, probably even encouraged. 

 

This is so demoralising. Does anyone at Alamy still notice or care? If they cannot look after the newsfeed, and, as we are told, no clients ever look at it anyway, then please, for goodness sakes, do what some of the wires do and just make the feed non-public via client login. It looks like an absolutely embarrassing mess.

[Alamy]

Hi All,

 

We're aware of this concern about some 'non-news' images appearing on the live news feed, and we do recommend and advise all contributors, including agencies, to send in images that are only 'news' related to the Live News Feed. The service is continually monitored and we do routinely remove content that does not fall into the category of 'news' as and when it arises, when we can.

 

However, as there is an ever increasing amount of content coming on board, which varies on a daily basis, there sometimes has to be prioritisation of work in other areas and on other more important news images coming in to ensure that the right customers get the right content that is more relevant to their needs.

 

This is an area that we continue to monitor and we continue to advise all agencies and contributors to not use the Live News upload for 'non-news' images.

 

Thanks

 

Sophie

[Mr Standfast]

1 hour ago, Alamy said:

Hi All,

 

We're aware of this concern about some 'non-news' images appearing on the live news feed, and we do recommend and advise all contributors, including agencies, to send in images that are only 'news' related to the Live News Feed. The service is continually monitored and we do routinely remove content that does not fall into the category of 'news' as and when it arises, when we can.

 

However, as there is an ever increasing amount of content coming on board, which varies on a daily basis, there sometimes has to be prioritisation of work in other areas and on other more important news images coming in to ensure that the right customers get the right content that is more relevant to their needs.

 

This is an area that we continue to monitor and we continue to advise all agencies and contributors to not use the Live News upload for 'non-news' images.

 

Thanks

 

Sophie

 

Thank you Sophie.

[Phil Robinson]

I really hoped things had improved:

 

https://www.alamy.com/news/newsresults.aspx?qt=#BHM=foo%3Dbar%26qt%3D%26pn%3D1%26ps%3D120%26aoa%3D1%26news%3D%26sports%3D%26entmt%3D%26Videos%3D%26bb%3D1%26md%3DOL24805143%26dt%3D%26gid%3D{91339F09-1FD3-41D8-8862-BFFCBFADD7EF}%26destxml%3D%26imglst%3D%26orderby%3DDT%26newsseq%3D%26userid%3D{173C1BC7-D93A-43C2-A48C-B5EB9221055B}%26rand%3D1710186629119

 

https://www.alamy.com/news/newsresults.aspx?qt=#BHM=foo%3Dbar%26qt%3D%26pn%3D1%26ps%3D120%26aoa%3D1%26news%3D%26sports%3D%26entmt%3D%26Videos%3D%26bb%3D1%26md%3DOL24805142%26dt%3D%26gid%3D{1E4BF827-FA48-4B1E-93FE-2B7B16945C48}%26destxml%3D%26imglst%3D%26orderby%3DDT%26newsseq%3D%26userid%3D{173C1BC7-D93A-43C2-A48C-B5EB9221055B}%26rand%3D1710186646372

 

https://www.alamy.com/news/newsresults.aspx?qt=#BHM=foo%3Dbar%26qt%3D%26pn%3D1%26ps%3D120%26aoa%3D1%26news%3D%26sports%3D%26entmt%3D%26Videos%3D%26bb%3D1%26md%3DOL24805136%26dt%3D%26gid%3D{B2AA7A63-A4D2-4C1C-9F27-7D828D5933FA}%26destxml%3D%26imglst%3D%26orderby%3DDT%26newsseq%3D%26userid%3D{173C1BC7-D93A-43C2-A48C-B5EB9221055B}%26rand%3D1710186659594

 

https://www.alamy.com/news/newsresults.aspx?qt=#BHM=foo%3Dbar%26qt%3D%26pn%3D1%26ps%3D120%26aoa%3D1%26news%3D%26sports%3D%26entmt%3D%26Videos%3D%26bb%3D1%26md%3DOL24805137%26dt%3D%26gid%3D{D7C5B4A9-F288-43C5-B2D5-EF8D2059EB7A}%26destxml%3D%26imglst%3D%26orderby%3DDT%26newsseq%3D%26userid%3D{173C1BC7-D93A-43C2-A48C-B5EB9221055B}%26rand%3D1710186671271

 

https://www.alamy.com/news/newsresults.aspx?qt=#BHM=foo%3Dbar%26qt%3D%26pn%3D1%26ps%3D120%26aoa%3D1%26news%3D%26sports%3D%26entmt%3D%26Videos%3D%26bb%3D1%26md%3DOL24805138%26dt%3D%26gid%3D{94F46A05-53FE-4493-BB12-6A679C515208}%26destxml%3D%26imglst%3D%26orderby%3DDT%26newsseq%3D%26userid%3D{173C1BC7-D93A-43C2-A48C-B5EB9221055B}%26rand%3D1710186689387

 

https://www.alamy.com/news/newsresults.aspx?qt=#BHM=foo%3Dbar%26qt%3D%26pn%3D1%26ps%3D120%26aoa%3D1%26news%3D%26sports%3D%26entmt%3D%26Videos%3D%26bb%3D1%26md%3DOL24805135%26dt%3D%26gid%3D{460282F8-FCA2-4915-9B19-DC5E6A07626A}%26destxml%3D%26imglst%3D%26orderby%3DDT%26newsseq%3D%26userid%3D{173C1BC7-D93A-43C2-A48C-B5EB9221055B}%26rand%3D1710186702014

 

https://www.alamy.com/news/newsresults.aspx?qt=#BHM=foo%3Dbar%26qt%3D%26pn%3D1%26ps%3D120%26aoa%3D1%26news%3D%26sports%3D%26entmt%3D%26Videos%3D%26bb%3D1%26md%3DOL24804903%26dt%3D%26gid%3D{3C9387DF-9F21-48ED-A2C2-DE7D13A133EE}%26destxml%3D%26imglst%3D%26orderby%3DDT%26newsseq%3D%26userid%3D{173C1BC7-D93A-43C2-A48C-B5EB9221055B}%26rand%3D1710186766926

 

https://www.alamy.com/news/newsresults.aspx?qt=#BHM=foo%3Dbar%26qt%3D%26pn%3D1%26ps%3D120%26aoa%3D1%26news%3D%26sports%3D%26entmt%3D%26Videos%3D%26bb%3D1%26md%3DOL24803234%26dt%3D%26gid%3D{9016EFA3-F17E-4C48-8E88-8AF7414D8DEA}%26destxml%3D%26imglst%3D%26orderby%3DDT%26newsseq%3D%26userid%3D{173C1BC7-D93A-43C2-A48C-B5EB9221055B}%26rand%3D1710186794976

 

https://www.alamy.com/news/newsresults.aspx?qt=#BHM=foo%3Dbar%26qt%3D%26pn%3D1%26ps%3D120%26aoa%3D1%26news%3D%26sports%3D%26entmt%3D%26Videos%3D%26bb%3D1%26md%3DOL24804667%26dt%3D%26gid%3D{D4DCA404-EE10-4057-A3A3-2FF4D7FBE3F1}%26destxml%3D%26imglst%3D%26orderby%3DDT%26newsseq%3D%26userid%3D{173C1BC7-D93A-43C2-A48C-B5EB9221055B}%26rand%3D1710186812553

 

https://www.alamy.com/news/newsresults.aspx?qt=#BHM=foo%3Dbar%26qt%3D%26pn%3D1%26ps%3D120%26aoa%3D1%26news%3D%26sports%3D%26entmt%3D%26Videos%3D%26bb%3D1%26md%3DOL24804327%26dt%3D%26gid%3D{94BF3EF2-DFDF-4EDC-B676-C5668AAB1915}%26destxml%3D%26imglst%3D%26orderby%3DDT%26newsseq%3D%26userid%3D{173C1BC7-D93A-43C2-A48C-B5EB9221055B}%26rand%3D1710186848106

 

https://www.alamy.com/news/newsresults.aspx?qt=#BHM=foo%3Dbar%26qt%3D%26pn%3D1%26ps%3D120%26aoa%3D1%26news%3D%26sports%3D%26entmt%3D%26Videos%3D%26bb%3D1%26md%3DOL24803929%26dt%3D%26gid%3D{7AF0FE6D-0265-4109-B7BC-0417128812CA}%26destxml%3D%26imglst%3D%26orderby%3DDT%26newsseq%3D%26userid%3D{173C1BC7-D93A-43C2-A48C-B5EB9221055B}%26rand%3D1710186873324

 

https://www.alamy.com/news/newsresults.aspx?qt=#BHM=foo%3Dbar%26qt%3D%26pn%3D1%26ps%3D120%26aoa%3D1%26news%3D%26sports%3D%26entmt%3D%26Videos%3D%26bb%3D1%26md%3DOL24803657%26dt%3D%26gid%3D{D937F562-7834-43B0-91BA-89CF884E45A5}%26destxml%3D%26imglst%3D%26orderby%3DDT%26newsseq%3D%26userid%3D{173C1BC7-D93A-43C2-A48C-B5EB9221055B}%26rand%3D1710186910529

 

https://www.alamy.com/news/newsresults.aspx?qt=#BHM=foo%3Dbar%26qt%3D%26pn%3D1%26ps%3D120%26aoa%3D1%26news%3D%26sports%3D%26entmt%3D%26Videos%3D%26bb%3D1%26md%3DOL24803383%26dt%3D%26gid%3D{9FBED252-2854-49BC-99B3-AA6098B25CC9}%26destxml%3D%26imglst%3D%26orderby%3DDT%26newsseq%3D%26userid%3D{173C1BC7-D93A-43C2-A48C-B5EB9221055B}%26rand%3D1710186947167

 

https://www.alamy.com/news/newsresults.aspx?qt=#BHM=foo%3Dbar%26qt%3D%26pn%3D1%26ps%3D120%26aoa%3D1%26news%3D%26sports%3D%26entmt%3D%26Videos%3D%26bb%3D1%26md%3DOL24802437%26dt%3D%26gid%3D{0E2EF6AA-72EB-465B-8B9E-EE64DEDFD708}%26destxml%3D%26imglst%3D%26orderby%3DDT%26newsseq%3D%26userid%3D{173C1BC7-D93A-43C2-A48C-B5EB9221055B}%26rand%3D1710187008250

 

https://www.alamy.com/news/newsresults.aspx?qt=#BHM=foo%3Dbar%26qt%3D%26pn%3D1%26ps%3D120%26aoa%3D1%26news%3D%26sports%3D%26entmt%3D%26Videos%3D%26bb%3D1%26md%3DOL24802245%26dt%3D%26gid%3D{F40EB109-413F-427C-B4FF-E7F9C2B52353}%26destxml%3D%26imglst%3D%26orderby%3DDT%26newsseq%3D%26userid%3D{173C1BC7-D93A-43C2-A48C-B5EB9221055B}%26rand%3D1710187037401

 

https://www.alamy.com/news/newsresults.aspx?qt=#BHM=foo%3Dbar%26qt%3D%26pn%3D1%26ps%3D120%26aoa%3D1%26news%3D%26sports%3D%26entmt%3D%26Videos%3D%26bb%3D1%26md%3DOL24801800%26dt%3D%26gid%3D{196FD671-05A4-4429-99C7-865D4A7197A9}%26destxml%3D%26imglst%3D%26orderby%3DDT%26newsseq%3D%26userid%3D{173C1BC7-D93A-43C2-A48C-B5EB9221055B}%26rand%3D1710187066139

 

https://www.alamy.com/news/newsresults.aspx?qt=#BHM=foo%3Dbar%26qt%3D%26pn%3D1%26ps%3D120%26aoa%3D1%26news%3D%26sports%3D%26entmt%3D%26Videos%3D%26bb%3D1%26md%3DOL24801742%26dt%3D%26gid%3D{D492FCBF-5C65-4D12-B376-B3B25B1A4642}%26destxml%3D%26imglst%3D%26orderby%3DDT%26newsseq%3D%26userid%3D{173C1BC7-D93A-43C2-A48C-B5EB9221055B}%26rand%3D1710187082852

 

https://www.alamy.com/news/newsresults.aspx?qt=#BHM=foo%3Dbar%26qt%3D%26pn%3D1%26ps%3D120%26aoa%3D1%26news%3D%26sports%3D%26entmt%3D%26Videos%3D%26bb%3D1%26md%3DOL24801249%26dt%3D%26gid%3D{5596D442-4E9A-4F16-9B21-6345D85B2061}%26destxml%3D%26imglst%3D%26orderby%3DDT%26newsseq%3D%26userid%3D{173C1BC7-D93A-43C2-A48C-B5EB9221055B}%26rand%3D1710187100637

 

https://www.alamy.com/news/newsresults.aspx?qt=#BHM=foo%3Dbar%26qt%3D%26pn%3D1%26ps%3D120%26aoa%3D1%26news%3D%26sports%3D%26entmt%3D%26Videos%3D%26bb%3D1%26md%3DOL24801675%26dt%3D%26gid%3D{C6A46504-EA93-4B6F-8D26-A05C14C40910}%26destxml%3D%26imglst%3D%26orderby%3DDT%26newsseq%3D%26userid%3D{173C1BC7-D93A-43C2-A48C-B5EB9221055B}%26rand%3D1710187118713

 

https://www.alamy.com/news/newsresults.aspx?qt=#BHM=foo%3Dbar%26qt%3D%26pn%3D1%26ps%3D120%26aoa%3D1%26news%3D%26sports%3D%26entmt%3D%26Videos%3D%26bb%3D1%26md%3DOL24801495%26dt%3D%26gid%3D{96D9D857-DC90-4B79-8457-5C622169CD1D}%26destxml%3D%26imglst%3D%26orderby%3DDT%26newsseq%3D%26userid%3D{173C1BC7-D93A-43C2-A48C-B5EB9221055B}%26rand%3D1710187153030

 

https://www.alamy.com/news/newsresults.aspx?qt=#BHM=foo%3Dbar%26qt%3D%26pn%3D1%26ps%3D120%26aoa%3D1%26news%3D%26sports%3D%26entmt%3D%26Videos%3D%26bb%3D1%26md%3DOL24433358%26dt%3D%26gid%3D{5D516285-4188-4D12-8902-9B7C3FB4ADE4}%26destxml%3D%26imglst%3D%26orderby%3DDT%26newsseq%3D%26userid%3D{173C1BC7-D93A-43C2-A48C-B5EB9221055B}%26rand%3D1710187216369

 

https://www.alamy.com/image-details-popup.asp?pv=1&stamp=2&liveData=1&imageid=6084C267-B2E6-4B7F-9F1A-41FD46BD17CE&p=undefined&n=undefined&imageType=0&orientation=0&pn=1&searchtype=0&srch=foo%3dbar%26qt%3d%26aoa%3d1%26news%3d%26sports%3d%26entmt%3d%26Videos%3d%26bb%3d1%26md%3dOL24433358%26dt%3d%26gid%3d{5D516285-4188-4D12-8902-9B7C3FB4ADE4}%26destxml%3d%26imglst%3d%26orderby%3dDT%26newsseq%3d%26userid%3d{173C1BC7-D93A-43C2-A48C-B5EB9221055B}%26rand%3d1710187216373

 

https://www.alamy.com/image-details-popup.asp?pv=1&stamp=2&liveData=1&imageid=728504CB-6B46-43A4-AE80-E13693187B1C&p=undefined&n=undefined&imageType=0&orientation=0&pn=1&searchtype=0&srch=foo%3dbar%26qt%3d%26aoa%3d1%26news%3d%26sports%3d%26entmt%3d%26Videos%3d%26bb%3d1%26md%3dOL24433358%26dt%3d%26gid%3d{5D516285-4188-4D12-8902-9B7C3FB4ADE4}%26destxml%3d%26imglst%3d%26orderby%3dDT%26newsseq%3d%26userid%3d{173C1BC7-D93A-43C2-A48C-B5EB9221055B}%26rand%3d1710187241246

 

https://www.alamy.com/image-details-popup.asp?pv=1&stamp=2&liveData=1&imageid=D72F9E78-F0B1-4F47-AE15-12A0824CDD78&p=undefined&n=undefined&imageType=0&orientation=0&pn=1&searchtype=0&srch=foo%3dbar%26qt%3d%26aoa%3d1%26news%3d%26sports%3d%26entmt%3d%26Videos%3d%26bb%3d1%26md%3dOL24433358%26dt%3d%26gid%3d{5D516285-4188-4D12-8902-9B7C3FB4ADE4}%26destxml%3d%26imglst%3d%26orderby%3dDT%26newsseq%3d%26userid%3d{173C1BC7-D93A-43C2-A48C-B5EB9221055B}%26rand%3d1710187257191

 

https://www.alamy.com/image-details-popup.asp?pv=1&stamp=2&liveData=1&imageid=DBFBFECF-6176-4D22-ADF3-1BC4DD786080&p=undefined&n=undefined&imageType=0&orientation=0&pn=1&searchtype=0&srch=foo%3dbar%26qt%3d%26aoa%3d1%26news%3d%26sports%3d%26entmt%3d%26Videos%3d%26bb%3d1%26md%3dOL24433358%26dt%3d%26gid%3d{5D516285-4188-4D12-8902-9B7C3FB4ADE4}%26destxml%3d%26imglst%3d%26orderby%3dDT%26newsseq%3d%26userid%3d{173C1BC7-D93A-43C2-A48C-B5EB9221055B}%26rand%3d1710187273490

 

That's only two days, and there are so many more, I just couldn't be bothered to continue with more pages of "people seen at Doha airport"
Seeing people at an airport is not news

If Alamy really want to be taken seriously as a supplier of news images to the media, couldn't they perhaps spare one of their employees for ten minutes a day to check that the "News Feed" contains some news?

Edited March 11 by Phil Robinson

[Martin L]

Read all about it......Nuthatch eats sunflower seed

 

https://www.alamy.com/sieversdorf-germany-08th-mar-2024-a-nuthatch-sitta-europaea-with-a-sunflower-seed-in-its-beak-credit-patrick-pleuldpaalamy-live-news-image599482193.html?imageid=13F0D0D3-DC2A-40F7-95CA-7C32A8C7B346&p=173981&pn=1&searchId=b0edb317162120c1e59a1706792a04d4&searchtype=12

[Rebecca Ore]

Ramadan preparation photos are current soft news. The photos of the Russian Defense Ministry are a bit of a problem as news, but photographing recognizable people going in and out might have been problematic, especially if the photographer wasn't Russian. 

 

A lot look like bad travel photos, sent to news to avoid QC.

[Phil Robinson]

4 hours ago, Martin L said:

Read all about it......Nuthatch eats sunflower seed

 

https://www.alamy.com/sieversdorf-germany-08th-mar-2024-a-nuthatch-sitta-europaea-with-a-sunflower-seed-in-its-beak-credit-patrick-pleuldpaalamy-live-news-image599482193.html?imageid=13F0D0D3-DC2A-40F7-95CA-7C32A8C7B346&p=173981&pn=1&searchId=b0edb317162120c1e59a1706792a04d4&searchtype=12

That's a fantastic photo - but no, not news.

[Malcolm Park]

The other annoyance (and regular occurence) is having to wade through individually captioned shots from one event on the Live News page. Today, 23rd March 2024, we have 118 images from the Australian GP, all incorrectly captioned with a file number only. Looks very amateurish.

[Phil Robinson]

BREAKING NEWS!
https://www.alamy.com/news/newsresults.aspx#BHM=foo%3Dbar%26qt%3D%26pn%3D1%26ps%3D120%26aoa%3D1%26news%3D%26sports%3D%26entmt%3D%26Videos%3D%26bb%3D1%26md%3DOL24963330%26dt%3D%26gid%3D{C6349C34-FCB8-4523-A1A4-AF459BA73B94}%26destxml%3D%26imglst%3D%26orderby%3DDT%26newsseq%3D%26userid%3D{173C1BC7-D93A-43C2-A48C-B5EB9221055B}%26rand%3D1712481513255

[Phil Robinson]

I'm trying to stay away from this but today's just can't be beat:
Insect on a block of wood, Stuttgart, Germany

followed by the wonderful:

Two insects on a block of wood, Stuttgart, Germany (one of which isn't an insect, or even a spider, it's a harvestman -Weberknecht in German if you want to get the caption right for all the German front pages. And they're both out of focus)

Edited May 8 by Phil Robinson

[Chuck Nacke]

Well I've been trying not to contribute to this thread, but........

 

I do agree with Phil's original post and it is an ongoing problem for all "News Photo" agencies. I do believe that Alamy is doing the best that they can dealing with contributors who are mostly not trained journalists.

 

In my opinion, a larger issue are the individuals and agencies who just "dump" images onto the news feed without any editing (selecting) images.  Not sure why anyone would upload 20, 50 or more images that are from the same event, often showing the same thing?  To make it worse their captions accompanying those images are not specific and often not accurate. 

 

Just my opinion, Happy Friday

 

Chuck

[Lynchpics]

On 10/05/2024 at 19:13, Chuck Nacke said:

.

 

In my opinion, a larger issue are the individuals and agencies who just "dump" images onto the news feed without any editing (selecting) images.  Not sure why anyone would upload 20, 50 or more images that are from the same event, often showing the same thing?  To make it worse their captions accompanying those images are not specific and often not accurate. 

 

Just my opinion, Happy Friday

 

Chuck

Just did a search on Alamy for UK Gaza protest images, 1st page had 4 identical images from the same contributor via different distributors. How do 'normal' contributors make sales if the 1st few search pages are spammed in this way? This search was on the main Alamy library, not the live news page.

Edited May 13 by Lynchpics

[Lynchpics]

Just searched again and it looks like someone has changed the algorithm. 

[GP Essex]

And this morning there's no news at all apparently...

Just went to look and the page is blank (tried 2 different browsers, & signed in & out) @Alamy

[imageplotter]

The Alamy news desk needs more resource. I don't blame the messy feed on the staffers who man the desk at all, I'm sure they try their best and there is a huge amount of images coming in from agencies as well as the ever increasing number of those given news upload rights (Some of whom, I suspect are wire agency pseudos, I think I mentioned this before - there are quite a few pseudos with below 5k images who randomly file from high profile events where Alamy shooters had no access, ie pool/NMA/Royal Rota only events). 

 

But the fact remains that Alamy's news feed is far more disorganised and messy than any of the other open access feeds, ie PA Images, Getty News, Rex/Shutterstock. And it seems to come down to lack of resource.

[imageplotter]

Well, it's not Friday, but it's sunny and while we're at it, I might as well post this nugget. Hold the front pages (or at least page 29 of 'Fast Food Daily Newsletter'): https://www.alamy.com/news/#BHM=foo%3Dbar%26qt%3D%26pn%3D1%26ps%3D120%26aoa%3D1%26news%3D%26sports%3D%26entmt%3D%26Videos%3D%26bb%3D1%26md%3DOL25644857%26dt%3D%26gid%3D{355E57FD-AA1A-40AC-A78D-3B680395B77A}%26destxml%3D%26imglst%3D%26orderby%3DDT%26newsseq%3D%26userid%3D{FB4CA307-77DF-4738-AF15-0285E9BB437D}%26rand%3D1722463178915

 

With Parly in recess and the London news cycle in hibernation mode (give or take some EDL unrest and entertainment photocalls), I'm off for a break. May be in Berlin for a few days next week - dpa's news offering above is so inspirational, I shall go hunting for kebab news pics. Only 2795 kebab shops to cover in Berlin.🤣

[Phil Robinson]

30 pics of the Bull Ring shopping centre in Birmingham with no news value whatsoever - captioned "Madrid, Spain", presumably because someone's computer knows there's a bullring there too.

[spacecadet]

6 hours ago, Phil Robinson said:

30 pics of the Bull Ring shopping centre in Birmingham with no news value whatsoever - captioned "Madrid, Spain", presumably because someone's computer knows there's a bullring there too.

They chucked a lot of us out to make room for this.  I assume there was a good reason. Hah.

[Phil Robinson]

Toady's handy hint for all News contributors:
Date your news pics 2025 instead of 2024 and they will stay at the top of the news feed for 12 months!

[Mr Standfast]

Other years are also available. 2034 for instance. Come on chaps, get it together!