Hookers And Snappers

Speaking of double standards, Mark Steyn, via an assist from fellow New Englander Jules Crittenden catches this doozy at AP:

If you use Associated Press photographs to point out that AP pix from the Middle East seem awfully staged and that their local snappers seem to see themselves as court photographers to the new Caliphate, the AP legal department will shut you down.

But, if the Associated Press goes to “Kristen”‘s website, cut-and-pastes personal photographs of the happy hooker, and distributes them around the world without paying her a dime, well, that’s “fair use“.

In disputes of this kind, one would normally bet on the multinational megacorp with the big legal department. But it’s pretty clear from her general philosophy that “Kristen” doesn’t give away much for free, and certainly not “exotic photographs”. And, given what one of my readers calls her “fully-funded mandate” from the Governor of New York, she presumably has the pockets to take AP to court. You go, girl! It’s not often you get a case where there’s someone in the room with a higher hourly rate than the lawyers.

But then, AP is far from the only news agency vexed by photography issues.