Photo flap reinforces my point

   The evolving (degenerating?) debate over pay walls and concerns about news organizations giving away content for free continues to rage.  By this time, most nearly all directly involved are generally on one side of the fence or the other.  Those headed towards a pay wall are considering home-brewed solutions and some believe there is some monetary value to gained from a collective approach (the “ViewPass” scheme for one).

   It’s gotten so bad, there are even dweeby IT folks like myself weighing in here on this blog, on Twitter and our company Yammer.  Some excerpts:

• Twitter (@mgcoleman, 7/29): Schenectady paper (Daily Gazette) reverts back (backwards?) to paywall for content.  http://tinyurl.com/m9nv4s.
• C3 Roadies blog on ViewPass being just another pay wall…nothing more, nothing less (6/9): http://c3it.wordpress.com/2009/06/09/viewpass-just-another-paywall/
• C3 Roadies blog publicly calls being able to control the the supply of news & content a falacy (5/29): http://c3it.wordpress.com/?p=143
• C3 Roadies blog on why Murdoch has it wrong (5/8): http://c3it.wordpress.com/?p=139

   Today I read through an article (http://open.salon.com/blog/future_of_journalism/2009/07/29/photog_thrilled_to_get_peanuts_from_time) about a photographer getting $30 for a stock photo that was used as a Time Magazine front cover photo (http://img.timeinc.net/time/magazine/archive/covers/2009/1101090427_400.jpg).  We all know Time got the better of the deal, the photog could’ve (under a commission) received greater compensation, etc., etc., etc..  The article rapidly shifts to the topic of online content and the 4th paragraph from the end really caught my attention both as a well-versed statement of fact and being supportive of my strong position to date:

If Time hadn’t found Lam’s stock photo of coins in a jar for $30, or $125, it would have found a similar photo for a similar price. If news consumers can’t get their news online for free from their favorite news organization, they’ll find it for free somewhere else.

“…they’ll find it for free somewhere else.”  Amen.