3 October, 2007

Cheeky buggers!

Grr!  The University's student newspaper has nicked one of the Ministry's photos to illustrate an article about the city.

It's great that they're interested, and though I say it myself, it is a pretty good photo, but I really object – no, I find it unacceptable – for a supposed journalist to appropriate content and republish it unacknowledged, especially when that content is clearly labeled as under copyright ('© NRT, 2006' is both visible at the foot of the page and less visible in the image's <alt>> tag).

As everyone should know (never mind semi-professional journalists – the article went out under the Assistant Editor's name), web-published content is afforded the same level of copyright protection as any other form of publication: it does not automatically enter the public domain, unless the content owner has clearly provided a user agreement such as Creative Commons – which I don't.

Had I been approached for permission (which I've been happy to give to those who have asked in the past), and been given credit for the photograph, I'd have had no problem. However, I very much object to it have been just taken, unacknowledged.

For some reason, I particularly object to this being done by a self-defined semi-professional, who'll presumably cite experience of journalism and associated standards when advancing his future career.

[Update 12:45: the editor apologied very quickly, so there's no problem.]