Martin P Wilson Posted January 27, 2014 Share Posted January 27, 2014 Yet again newspapers move to "citizen journalists" (what a total misnomer) and sack photographers: Guardian comment It will all be crowd sourced for free in less than 5 years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jill Morgan Posted January 27, 2014 Share Posted January 27, 2014 The main problem this could end up causing is twofold. 1 - how do the photo editors know that the citizen has not manipulated the photo? 2 - how does the editor know the citizen has their facts straight? These could be flaws that could end up costing in lawsuits down the road. I think this will actually end up being editors still getting news photos from places such as Alamy, getty, etc. Freelance as opposed to staff photographers. I do think they want some professionalism in there as a safeguard. Crowd sourced can be handy and cheap, but could end up being costly in the end. Jill Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Coombs Posted January 27, 2014 Share Posted January 27, 2014 Good points Jill. I have always thought "crowd sourced" material to be potentially dangerous. Trouble is, a lot of the press have the old "publish and be damned" mentality. The press don't seem easily intimidated by the threat of lawsuits. Although, that approach may be catching up with some of them now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gervais Montacute Posted January 27, 2014 Share Posted January 27, 2014 Not really surprised. Staff photographers would cost a lot more than say, Alamy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Inchiquin Posted January 27, 2014 Share Posted January 27, 2014 I would have thought that any sensible newspaper would have some kind of disclaimer for crowd-sourced photographs which puts the onus for accuracy on the photographer. And how many of those happy snappers will even think to read the disclaimer? So what's going to be really interesting is when over-enthusiastic crowd-sourcers start finding themselves on the end of expensive lawsuits after submitting photos that distort the truth. That will really put the legal cat among the wannabe pigeons. Alan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil Crean Posted January 27, 2014 Share Posted January 27, 2014 I would have thought that any sensible newspaper would have some kind of disclaimer for crowd-sourced photographs which puts the onus for accuracy on the photographer. And how many of those happy snappers will even think to read the disclaimer? So what's going to be really interesting is when over-enthusiastic crowd-sourcers start finding themselves on the end of expensive lawsuits after submitting photos that distort the truth. That will really put the legal cat among the wannabe pigeons. Alan Sooner it happens the better Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ed Rooney Posted January 27, 2014 Share Posted January 27, 2014 The main problem this could end up causing is twofold. 1 - how do the photo editors know that the citizen has not manipulated the photo? 2 - how does the editor know the citizen has their facts straight? These could be flaws that could end up costing in lawsuits down the road. I think this will actually end up being editors still getting news photos from places such as Alamy, getty, etc. Freelance as opposed to staff photographers. I do think they want some professionalism in there as a safeguard. Crowd sourced can be handy and cheap, but could end up being costly in the end. Jill This downsizing-crowdsourcing has been going on here in the States for the past five or more years. It's all in the way the caption is written as to who is responsible for what. As Bob Dylan said long ago: "The times they are a changing." Maybe I'll go back into acting. I think I could play a disgruntled photographer and maybe win an award. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Baigent Posted January 27, 2014 Share Posted January 27, 2014 It will all be crowd sourced for free in less than 5 years. I am impressed that you think there will be newspapers in five year, they are cutting costs and corners everywhere that they can just to survive. The internet... sorry, "cloud" and mobile devices with see papers off eventually. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Linda Posted January 27, 2014 Share Posted January 27, 2014 The main problem this could end up causing is twofold. 1 - how do the photo editors know that the citizen has not manipulated the photo? 2 - how does the editor know the citizen has their facts straight? These could be flaws that could end up costing in lawsuits down the road. I think this will actually end up being editors still getting news photos from places such as Alamy, getty, etc. Freelance as opposed to staff photographers. I do think they want some professionalism in there as a safeguard. Crowd sourced can be handy and cheap, but could end up being costly in the end. Jill And how will they know that the image is not stolen from another photographer? The newspaper would still be liable for infringement;though possibly not willful infringement. L Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spacecadet Posted January 27, 2014 Share Posted January 27, 2014 Maybe I'll go back into acting. I think I could play a disgruntled photographer and maybe win an award. It has to be a musical, I think, Ed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martin P Wilson Posted January 27, 2014 Author Share Posted January 27, 2014 It will all be crowd sourced for free in less than 5 years. I am impressed that you think there will be newspapers in five year, they are cutting costs and corners everywhere that they can just to survive. The internet... sorry, "cloud" and mobile devices with see papers off eventually. I no longer make the distinction as they all have a web presence anyway. And as for it being about "survival", they would say that wouldn't they? I used to buy my local paper but wouldn't dream of it now as it so badly written (and illustrated); online is even worse. They seemed to have cut corners (quality) faster than they have lost sales... Which came first? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ed Rooney Posted January 27, 2014 Share Posted January 27, 2014 I'm not doing any tap dancing, Mark. I draw the line there. Linda, as I'm sure you know, libel is very hard to prove; one must prove damages and intent. And photographers have been stealing other photographers' work since the first click of a shutter. Are we ever going to arrive at a fair business model? That's the question. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spacecadet Posted January 27, 2014 Share Posted January 27, 2014 My home town was fairly well flooded last month and I tried to follow it on the website of the local Johnston paper. There must have been plenty of opportunities for good material but all that ever appeared were a few iffy phonesnaps and a very rough video hours after the fact all, no doubt, from 'citizens'. I doubt they would have wanted to pay my fees had I been in town, of course. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Baigent Posted January 27, 2014 Share Posted January 27, 2014 Hi Martin I no longer make the distinction as they all have a web presence anyway. And as for it being about "survival", they would say that wouldn't they? I used to buy my local paper but wouldn't dream of it now as it so badly written (and illustrated); online is even worse. They seemed to have cut corners (quality) faster than they have lost sales... Which came first? I claim no expertise but I am not sure that traditional newspaper models will translate well to the web. I think that news will be spread across more, smaller niche or specialised souces. I was at a wedding a while back and talking to my nephew and his friends all over 25 and under 30 and none of them read newspapers. They catch a bit of TV news, usually on a mobile device. Anything that they specifically want to know they go to a specialist source (website blog etc). I am the same (well a different age group 50s) but I have not read a newspaper in years, actually I behave like my nephew ie BBC news on TV or tablet and then blogs, magazines (online) and websites. Just me pondering not arguing a case :-) Mark Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Baigent Posted January 27, 2014 Share Posted January 27, 2014 My home town was fairly well flooded last month and I tried to follow it on the website of the local Johnston paper. There must have been plenty of opportunities for good material but all that ever appeared were a few iffy phonesnaps and a very rough video hours after the fact all, no doubt, from 'citizens'. I doubt they would have wanted to pay my fees had I been in town, of course. They could have turned to Alamy news :-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alex Todd Posted January 27, 2014 Share Posted January 27, 2014 My home town was fairly well flooded last month and I tried to follow it on the website of the local Johnston paper. There must have been plenty of opportunities for good material but all that ever appeared were a few iffy phonesnaps and a very rough video hours after the fact all, no doubt, from 'citizens'. I doubt they would have wanted to pay my fees had I been in town, of course. They could have turned to Alamy news :-) That would have meant paying for the images Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spacecadet Posted January 27, 2014 Share Posted January 27, 2014 Oh, I don't think Johnston darken Alamy's door. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martin P Wilson Posted January 27, 2014 Author Share Posted January 27, 2014 Hi Mark, I think you are right. Like many I too (age 60+) only dip into online news (FT, BBC, Daily Telegraph, The Guardian). I don't really watch tv news any more and perhaps buy a newspaper 2-3 times a year. So I suppose it is only fair they only buy my pictures a couple of times a year (or so) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedSnapper Posted January 27, 2014 Share Posted January 27, 2014 Its interesting that the people who pay the least attention to the content of news media (in all forms) are the same ones who bemoan their lack of editorial sales to those very same media there could well be a connection km Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Mitchell Posted January 27, 2014 Share Posted January 27, 2014 I'm in the 60+ baby boomer cohort, and I still read dead-tree versions of newspapers, but only in coffee shops where they are free. I haven't actually bought a newspaper in years. One reason for this is that I used to contribute travel stories and photos to newspapers and got sick of their low pay and horrible, rights-grabbing contracts. In Canada, the use of microstock images to illustrate travel features is now commonplace. Some of these photos are inaccurately captioned, of course; and because travel stories tend not to be edited nowadays (not enough staff, I imagine), they don't get corrected. I've seen some shameful bloopers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OneWay Posted January 27, 2014 Share Posted January 27, 2014 Here's something else to stir the pot... http://www.businessinsider.com/selfies-and-2013-2013-12?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+businessinsider+%28Business+Insider%29 What's a few million images on Alamy and other stock agencies? Scads of citizen-photographers out there... Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Baigent Posted January 27, 2014 Share Posted January 27, 2014 Its interesting that the people who pay the least attention to the content of news media (in all forms) are the same ones who bemoan their lack of editorial sales to those very same media there could well be a connection km Mea culpa Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Mitchell Posted January 27, 2014 Share Posted January 27, 2014 Here's something else to stir the pot... http://www.businessinsider.com/selfies-and-2013-2013-12?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+businessinsider+%28Business+Insider%29 What's a few million images on Alamy and other stock agencies? Scads of citizen-photographers out there... Dave If you see me taking a selfie, please put me out of my misery. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Mitchell Posted January 27, 2014 Share Posted January 27, 2014 Its interesting that the people who pay the least attention to the content of news media (in all forms) are the same ones who bemoan their lack of editorial sales to those very same media there could well be a connection km Mea culpa Mea too, I suppose, although I actually pay quite a bit of attention to the content of news media in all their varied and wonderful forms. However, I did opt out of Alamy's newspaper scheme as quickly as I could. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Linda Posted January 27, 2014 Share Posted January 27, 2014 It will all be crowd sourced for free in less than 5 years. I am impressed that you think there will be newspapers in five year, they are cutting costs and corners everywhere that they can just to survive. The internet... sorry, "cloud" and mobile devices with see papers off eventually. I no longer make the distinction as they all have a web presence anyway. And as for it being about "survival", they would say that wouldn't they? I used to buy my local paper but wouldn't dream of it now as it so badly written (and illustrated); online is even worse. They seemed to have cut corners (quality) faster than they have lost sales... Which came first? It's funny you say that.I actually link to quite a few stories on my Facebook from the UK papers. At least the photos are big enough to see. Chicago papers are not what they use to be either. To be able to see detail in the online images you need to have a magnifying glass near by and the images are no longer as good and neither is the choice of content. L Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.