inbox
Copyright cases would end if rights were respected When digital photos leave the photographer, they should and usually do include metadata identifying the copyright holder and rights granted so prospective users such as David [Skentelbury] (letters, August/ September], could quickly check if they have the right to publish. How sensible. However, publishers and clients
routinely and quickly delete metadata, removing the ability to check and putting people in David’s position at considerable risk. If they kept it and abided by rights agreements, there would be no claims. It’s the publishers/clients who cause these problems, not the photographers. The Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 says only the copyright holder (having invested time, talent, money and personal risk) has the right to set licence conditions and fees. Judges at the Intellectual Property Enterprise Court and Court of Appeal have repeatedly reminded publishers they must stop publishing unlawfully (without prior permission). To the publisher, using a photo without permission is just a one-off infringement, so what’s the big deal? For the typical freelance photographer like me, it’s cumulative. I have 21 active cases in six countries (having settled 140+). That’s an extra day’s work each week, so I use a specialist company, adding to costs. Every Infringement reduces my income. John Walmsley London Freelance branch
True equality is good for kids, parents and society I read Jeremy Bowden’s feature ‘Gender equality lags behind in parenting’, and I couldn’t agree more. It’s my experience that fathers love their children just as much as mothers do. But sexist expectations mean that fathers get stuck working long hours to support their families, while missing out on the fun of actually spending time with their kids. Meanwhile, women’s careers stall because they take time out to care for children. ‘Fairness’ works both ways. There will not be true equality until it is expected that men get to spend as much time with their kids as women do. I look forward to the day when that happens. It will be good for the kids as well as the parents, and thus for society as a whole. Helen Johnson Northallerton
Holding power to account at The New York Times The excellent BBC 2 series Reporting Trump’s First Year: the Fourth Estate focused on the work of New York Times journalists holding the Trump administration to account. It also highlighted the newspaper’s
tremendous commitment to journalism, particularly investigative, despite the costs and the challenges caused by the loss of advertising to the internet. The owner of The New York Times and its senior editorial team
clearly see the crucial importance of high quality journalism, even while they are having to make cuts. The work of New York Times journalists can be compared with the the UK where newspapers have cut journalist numbers, year after year. That surely means that those in
power here are not being held to account as they should be because resources – journalists – have been cut. I write as a retired local government reporter.
Quality journalism doesn’t come cheap but newspaper companies really need to re-evaluate where they are going and whether they are serving readers well enough. I dread to think what those in power
are getting away with, with the cuts in journalist numbers on both regional and national newspapers. Phillip Nifield Life Member Cardiff
Google fact check is linked to US state broadcaster Amid all the fake news discussions, I find it amazing that every time I check out Google News I see a column on the right headlined Fact Check. And, invariably among the sources Google quotes at me, are items from
Polygraph.info. A simple check reveals that
Polygraph.info is a source of US propaganda run by the same organisation as the Voice of America. Either the algorithms have been
infiltrated by the National Security Agency or else Google is keen to stay on the right side (pun intended) of the US government. Dave Siddall Cockermouth Cumbria
Forget literary agents – crowdfunding is as good I read Ken Murray’s letter on getting books published with interest and can offer some advice based on my own experience. Why not cut out a literary agent altogether? I suggest that he contacts
crowdfunding publisher Unbound. You don’t need an agent to submit your proposal to them. The drawback is you have to raise the
cost of your book upfront, but once that is achieved, your book is published and distributed in the usual way, both in bookshops and as an e-book online. I published my biography of Laurie
Cunningham, the first black footballer to play professionally for England as a hardback last year. The book has done well and was shortlisted for an award. I had never written a book before and had a small online presence. But, through a combination of email and social media, I hit my funding target within months. I found the whole process to be straightforward and doubt if my book would have seen the light of day otherwise. Dermot Kavanagh London
STEVE BELL
THE OWNERS
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