Germany: Bild solicites reader photos for pay
can earn a lucky amateur photog between 100 and 500 euro.
Celebrities have been the main victims of such photos as ubiquitous camera phones and digital cameras capture their every move.
Despite the success of the program (a few citizen images are published are printed every day), Germany's national federation of journalists is not at all happy. It claims that using amateur photos devalues the work of the newsroom and is a threat to professional photographers everywhere.
Furthermore, a lawyer for a pair of football players unknowingly caught on "film" in compromising situations has said the practice is against the law. And the president of Berlin's police force has declared it a threat for people living in communities.
But Bild is being adamant about its rights, noting that the practice of citizen images is widespread in other countries. At the beginning of September, the tabloid even handed out thousands of false press cards to its readers saying that they work for the paper's site.
Source: Le Monde (in French)
1 TrackBacks
Listed below are links to blogs that reference this entry: Germany: Bild solicites reader photos for pay.
TrackBack URL for this entry: http://www.editorsweblog.org/mt/mt-tb.cgi/1105
"Everybody tells jokes but we still have professional comedians." That's how Jimbo Wales, founder of Wikipedia, summed up the perceived threat of citizen journalism to conventional news organizations at the First International Wikimedia Conference. Ins... Read More
Leave a comment