Photojournalism: A dying profession?
16 May 2007

The Internet: Probably the most valued and indispensable asset of the modern world. But what about those who are negatively affected? Sion Touhig, a professional photojournalist, believes his career is on the line.

Throughout its development, the ideology behind the Internet's power has been to empower the individual; an empowerment that has bettered lives across the world and defined the ways in which we connect and share. While most agree without question, there is growing scepticism of the escalating internet 'economy'.

One attack is rooted in the difficulty to control widespread online copyright theft from newspapers, media groups, individuals and the superfluity of images that are freely or cheaply available on the net. The effect is devastating news for professional photojournalists whose source of income depends on the sales of their images through either the Internet, or other channels that may be getting clogged up by online copyright slackness.

Sion Touhig, an established freelance photojournalist, feels threatened by the fact that there are now more copyright-free or practically-free images on the Internet than there are copyrighted ones. Touhig points to major corporate image portals which invite clients to help themselves to free content, meaning they no longer need to spend money paying photographers.

"With mass rip-offs on the Web and the unit value of images crashing, photographers can no longer make a living independently from their work," Touhig passionately asserts. As a corollary, many photo-agencies are also being forced out of business.

Despair is further compounded by the threat of "Citizen Journalism", which rose sharply as a result of the September 11 attacks in America. And in the UK, Touhig has criticised mainstream media for propagandising hard for Citizen Journalism following the mobile phone images of the July 7 London Bombings. Since media groups are not in the habit of financially rewarding amateur images, yet still assume all copyright from contributors, Touhig believes that the whole issue is "simply globalisation in practice". Without insulting the intentions of amateurs, he highlights an injustice tacitly wronging amateur contributors, which is also a factor in diverting business away from professionals.

With the popularisation of Citizen Journalism and lax copyright enforcement on the net, Touhig and others are feeling that their labour is being stolen from under them. Where then is it going to? "The only entities that are now able to make decent profits from photography are large corporations," Touhig argues.

Unsurprisingly Touhig's outspoken theories have excited great controversy, particularly from large corporations, the media and those who adamantly believe that expanding imagery on the Web has "democratised the medium".

Essentially, Touhig's argument against copyright theft is not a new one: record labels and musicians, for example, have been campaigning for more stringent laws to further protect from illegal downloading. Yet Touhig finds himself in a tougher bind as technically what is unravelling his profession is legal and so most are unaware of the damage being done. His essay is rare and compelling, breaking a taboo to shine light on the negative consequences that our obsession with new technologies can entail. Our passion for photography means that DigitalRev is empathetic to Touhig's cause and hope that he, and photographers like him, soon find relief from their situation.

To read Sion Touhig's essay, How the Anti-Copyright Lobby Makes Big Business Richer, please click here.