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Telegraph's 'Snap and send' launch sparks rights grab row

Posted: 30/11/05 By: Jemima Kiss
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The launch of the Telegraph's new 'Snap and Send' feature has generated fresh concern in the freelance community about user-generated content.

Introduced on Monday, the new service invites readers to send in images from their mobile phones, but users are required to agree to terms and conditions that hand over all rights to the publisher and allow them to re-use and re-sell pictures.

According to the site's web editor Richard Burton, the feature is designed to encourage readers to feel part of the site in the same way that blogs and 'your view' tools invite readers to interact.

He said that the conditions users sign up to are "just standard terms that we apply to photography generally".

The project is so new that it has not yet been decided exactly where or how the images would be used, although they are likely to appear in the print newspaper as well as on the site.

A photo gallery is one possibility, said Mr Burton. But images will be labelled as reader-submitted content which, he insisted, will not replace professional photography.

"There is no way this is an attempt to replace professional photography," he said.

"That's a complete misunderstanding of what we're trying to do. We're not asking people for sale-able pictures - it is simply an opportunity for readers to contribute their views."

The 'Snap and Send' feature is not designed as a platform for more commercially valuable witness photography or breaking news, said Mr Burton.

"We don't want people putting themselves in sticky situations or staging things - that is not the idea. This has nothing to do with assignment photos."

An attractive business model

Kyle MacRae, managing director of the Scoopt citizen media agency, said that these kind of terms are likely to become commonplace unless the public can be educated about copyright.

"There's a difference between using user-generated content in a fair and responsible manner and an all-out exploitative rights grab," he said.

"I can imagine the backroom discussions when drawing up the terms and conditions: 'So, people will send us their photos of everything, for free, and we can use them forever in any way we like, and even syndicate and sell them - and never pay a penny? How cool is that?!'

"You can see the attraction as a business model."

Scoopt itself now has 4,300 members who submit their photographs and video to the site. The agency pays them commission if they sell the content on.

After a 90-day period of exclusivity, Scoopt retains the right to publish on a non-exclusive basis which, says Mr MacRae, is a balance between what is fair for members and what is commercially prudent for Scoopt.

The BBC's terms and conditions for user-generated content state that site users retain copyright and submit content on a non-exclusive basis, although submissions can be used royalty-free, worldwide 'in any way we want'.

Exploiting the public?

Freelance and new media representatives at the UK's National Union of Journalists have expressed concern over the growing trend for user-generated content on mainstream news sites.

Readers are often required to sign over copyright for the photographs they submit - something that freelance photographers and journalists are always advised against doing. Though content is nearly always submitted for free by the public, once rights have been handed over, the news organisation could then sell on the photo or re-use it on other commercial projects.

Mike Holderness, editor of londonfreelance.org, said the London Freelance branch was planning to contact the Telegraph to discuss the issue. He described the Telegraph's terms and conditions as "a typical lawyer's laundry list".

"We always see these when a conscientious drudge knows they don't understand authors' rights and throws in everything including, but not necessarily limited to, the kitchen sink," he said.

"Freelances receiving these laundry lists are always well advised to ask: 'Yes, but what do you actually need to do with my work?'"

Freelancers also fear that news sites might choose to publish free reader images instead of paying for work by professionals, and that members of the public are not bound by the professional codes of practice that oblige them to work ethically and safely.

The NUJ is now working on a code of practice for citizen journalists that it hopes to promote through citizen media projects and on the reader submission pages of mainstream sites.

More news from journalism.co.uk:
Telegraph launches audio news feed
Setting the record straight on citizen journalism
Citizen journalism goes pro
Q&A: Richard Burton, web editor of Telegraph.co.uk

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