Independent press agencies call for regulated payment of online material

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Several leading independent UK press agencies have called for the introduction of a standardised payment system for online use of their stories and images by a 'maturing' market of newspaper websites.

Representatives from eight leading independent agencies told Journalism.co.uk that fees for online use of agency material, which were often waived during the embryonic years of online journalism, should now be adhered to.

Agencies claim they are rarely offered specific fees by newspapers for online use, leaving them feeling 'exploited' by national newspaper websites, many of whom claim international readerships of millions .

"We've had newspapers and publishing houses imploring us to co-operate with them to supply the material without charge while their websites were embryonic and not in profit," Chris Johnson, vice president of the National Association of Press Agencies (NAPA) and owner of Mercury Press Agency told Journalism.co.uk.

"This is not a viable business model, which is what we're trying to get them to recognise. They do, but they also want the payment holiday. What we're saying is is the payment holiday is over."

Representatives of all the agencies that spoke to Journalism.co.uk claimed the problem is rife, with newspaper publishers failing to recognise online as a separate platform when it comes to payment. The Sun and The Daily Mirror came in for particular criticism. Several agencies claimed the News International title would not pay for online copy if it appears in print, while The Mirror would pay nothing to these agencies for content that appears on its website.

A consensus exists, however, that the Daily Mail was moving towards a regulated system of payment for online publication - but the fees offered by the paper were described as 'derisory'.

Paul Horton, director and news editor of Wales News Service , told Journalism.co.uk that for online use his agency received around 30 per cent of the fee paid for their work appearing in the print edition of The Mail.

Jon Harris, managing director of agency Cavendish Press , said the site offers only £50 for using an agency photograph online.

The agencies also raised concerns that newspapers wanted to secure publishing rights across a range of platforms or sites within the same network for a single fee.

"When I send a story to a newsdesk, it's not a lucky dip for any other part of that company to pluck out my story and do what they want with it," added Horton.

Scott Douglas, founder and co-owner of Deadline Scotland, agreed: "What we're looking at is newspapers, our historic core target market, telling us that when we submit copy to them we waive all our rights and they can then choose to use it across mobile phones, the internet, for a one-off payment."

Some smaller press agencies are even being forced to turn their back on online work, because it brings no reliable return.

"I'm not going to target anything at online publication, because as soon as I do that I lose any ownership of the copy - there's no incentive for agencies to provide content for online without a payment system," said Nick Constable, owner of Westcoast News.

A handful of agencies also suggested to Journalism.co.uk that it was crucial they received fees from the publisher that first introduces their text stories to the internet as it's more difficult to protect this material against breaches of copyright elsewhere once it's online.

NAPA claims to be in protracted discussions with leading newspaper publishers about changes to online fees. However, these discussions have yet to see any significant progress on increased payment to agencies.

"Online papers will need stories from the likes of us, but at the moment it is still very new for them. We're all in the world of let's see how it goes and that's very frustrating," said Matthew Bell, Ferrari Press Agency.

"If a publisher said, bare with us and further down the round we'll reach an agreement with you, then I'm sure agencies would bide their time, but no one's saying anything."

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