This week CityTV was cited by the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council for failing to uphold the copyright of a man who published photos on Flickr under a Creative Commons license. Though the ruling doesn’t actually compel CityTV to atone for their actions by crediting the photographer (Joel Charlebois, aka uwajedi).
When CityTV arrived on the scene to do a story about the burglary, Charlebois says that he “refused [a reporter's] request for an interview….[and] asked him to leave.” Charlebois did, however, say that he “had taken pictures of the perpetrator and was looking forward to posting them on [his] Flickr site”; the reporter “was interested in seeing them,” so Charlebois gave him his card, but, he says, not permission to use the shots in any way. [torontoist]
The photos are of a man who allegedly tried to break into the photographer’s home. After posting the Creative Commons licensed photos to a couple of groups on Flickr, they were run by CityTV on their newscast without providing any attribution despite the fact that they were aware the Charlebois had taken the photos.
It took nearly nine months for the CBSC to make its ruling. In my opinion, the fact that it doesn’t actually compel CityTV to fix their mistake but merely acknowledge it fails to uphold the spirit of the CC license. As Duane Storey observed:
If I were to use CityTV footage on my blog without attribution, I would bet I would get a nice cease and desist letter forcing me to take it down in no time. That they think the laws should be different in each direction seems characteristic of most large media conglomerates these days. [duanestorey.com]
This sentiment seems to be shared by a number of individuals including Charlebois himself. Must it be up to independent media such as bloggers and podcasters to show the “professionals” how to properly attribute work? Was this simply a case of laziness on CityTV’s part or is it a symptom of a deeper disdain for those who don’t actually get to carry a press credential?
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1 Monday Link Love - No Time Edition « Random Thoughts of a Student of the Environment // May 26, 2008 at 11:14 am
[...] Outstanding blog posts on the non-attribution of Flickr photos by John Bollwitt, and Keith Murray. (I am pretty sure I read a third local blog that talked about the issue but it’s not coming [...]
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