Unethical Publishing Practices in India

I received a call from Better Photography magazine on Friday July 3, with an urgent requirement of a top-quality image that "defined Goa" and would "make photographers want to come to this coastal tourist state in western India." The image was to go with an article on Goa in the magazine.

After a quick email interaction (reproduced below), I was shocked to learn they wanted the images for free! This coming from India's top magazine dedicated to photography enthusiasts and with ads from the majors like Canon and Nikon. What was even more shocking is the reason for the no fee policy - the magazine I was told, had an estimated readership of 150,000. Hence, I suppose, photographers should feel privileged to have their images published.

I felt the need to post my response to this blog to inform others about this major scam. If sufficient photographers and creative individuals let it be known this is unacceptable business practice, perhaps the scene could be changed.

Here is my response to the email from Better Photography:

Hi Neha,

I am very happy to hear of the readership figures of Better Photography magazine. However I am also disturbed over the policy to use images without any fees.

As a professional working in the field, I believe your 'no fees' policy for photographs solicited from individuals (amateurs and professionals) is a bit skewed. While on the one hand BP informs people on making good images, on the other hand the magazine will not support the livelihood of those working in the same field?

At a cover price of Rs 100 and supported by ads of majors in photography, the publication is purely commercial and not a non-profit. As such, not paying for images and to say that photographers should be happy with 'publicity' in the form of a credit line "given the 150,000 odd readership", is an un-ethical business practice.

If viewership figures is the only criteria then photographers would be better off with images on Flickr where the hits are in the millions and visibility much higher. But of course, for us in the field, it's not just about visibility but also hard cash.

Unfortunately, this practice is being followed by more and more reputed publications - newspapers, magazines and journals, stepping on the already flattened stomachs of photographers and other creative individuals and, in particular, photojournalists.

But as a premier photography publication in India, Better Photography would be expected to do better.

I do hope BP changes its policy to show the way for other publications in India. If not you may just be killing the industry already reeling from editorial cuts in mainstream publications.

In the meanwhile, I must decline having my images published in BP for free.

Sincerely,

Gasper DSouza

gasperdesouza.com

Here are the previous emails (in reverse cronological order) to make the scenario clear:

Hello Gasper,

Our publication is purely an educative one, meant for hobbyists and

enthusiasts. Our magazine is a well-read journal of 160 pages. We

print around 25,000 copies and every single copy is read by around 5-7

people, making our readership about 150,000. We get some advertising

in our magazine, which allows us to keep our cover price to INR 100.

And our aim is to showcase good photography. In light of this, we do

not offer a fee.

However, the prerogative to decline is entirely yours. But if you feel

you would be comfortable sharing the image with us please send us an

original high resolution file of the image.

Warm Regards

Neha

Email requesting terms and my normal publishing fee:

Hi Neha,

I can send you the high res images as required from my archives. Give me a couple of hours.

Meanwhile, since this is the first time, do let me know your terms of use etc. My normal magazine per image rate is .....

regards

#gasper

Response requesting high-res files of two photographs (no mention of terms).

Hello Gasper,

These are the images we would like to publish. I am attaching the image as well as the tag from the link you have sent.

The tag is : Other_Goa_12.jpg

The images should be 8x10-inches for Vertical images and 17x11.5-inches for Horizontal images at 300 dpi, so that if any image needs to be used a full-page bleed or as a double spread, we can.

Warm Regards

Neha

Initial email from me, following telephonic conversation, requesting images on Goa:

Hey Neha,

Sending you a few low-res pics that I dug out. Also check out the feature at: http://www.gasperdesouza.com/features/othergoa.htm

Let me know if any meet your requirements and terms of publishing. I can send you high-res file once finalised.

#gasper

I am all for helping causes and actively work in community media but I do not think a big media house is a "cause" that deserves free work - whether photography or other creative forms of expression.

I leave it to readers to judge.

NOTE: Better Photography is published by Infomedia 18 Ltd who also publish other big magazines like Chip (IT) and Overdrive (auto) with indirect control by TV 18 (CNBC TV 18 and CNBC Awaaz)