An Important Reminder About Photos That Can Be Used in Stories
You will get in trouble for using copyrighted images
I get it. We’re sportswriters. We would prefer to use images that are most relevant to the event or player that we are talking about. Unless you were at the game and took the photo yourself or you bought that photo from the photographer who took it, unfortunately, you do not have the legal right to use that photo.
If you see a photo in a newspaper, online magazine, or on a major sports site like ESPN, assume the photo is already copyrighted. You won’t be able to use that particular photo and the photographer’s name is usually credited along with it.
How serious is this if you publish anyway? I mean, you may not feel the consequences right away, but days, weeks, months, or maybe even years down the road, the photographer may do a reverse Google Image search to look for all instances of their photo and if they find out that you used it without their permission, they have the legal right to sue you for that transgression, or at the very least demand that you take it down. The other risk is that if Medium catches wind — whether, through a troll report (which happens all the time) or some other way, you may likely be kicked off the platform.
Here at The Press Box, we will reject any submission that has a questionable credit with potential copyright or ask you to change the photo. If you self-publish, that liability falls all on your shoulders. Even if you’re not making money or not in the Medium Partner Program, you can still be sent to court over using someone else’s work improperly.
There are plenty of places where you can get free images from the Internet. Some examples I can think of that are the most common on the platform are Unsplash, Pexels, Pixabay, and Wikimedia Commons.
Wikimedia Commons is especially great for sportswriters because they will have photos from professionals that give you even just a limited amount of pictures pertaining to a particular team, game, venue, or player. Even if you use one of these free sites, make sure to properly link the attribution to your photos by copying and pasting the photographer’s name, licensed site, and/or attribution link.
Simply stating where the photos come from isn’t enough to avoid legal complications. As this publication continues to grow, all of us need to be aware of what we can and can’t do. The editors and the writers together have a responsibility to understand what’s acceptable, particularly within Medium’s guidelines.
A great story about the photo policy on Medium is from a fellow editor at Globetrotters, JoAnn Ryan. This is another great piece for further guidance on the topic that we should all heed.
Contained within that story are also the actual Medium rules themselves. It is linked below. Also important to take note of and remind yourselves of every so often are Medium’s policies. I encourage you all to take a quick read:
I don’t want to end this post on a sour note. We just all have to be mindful of the legal implications of breaking copyright law and how this affects all of us. If we let a copyright violation slip through our publication, that is not only going to be on you but also on the Suite 1984 family and The Press Box. And for future reference, it can be easily avoided. Let’s all continue to write quality sports content and, “Play ball!!”
Tagging all of The Press Box writers and editors for future reference
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