Update on Illegal Photo Publication
The story began when one of my foodie friend texted me:
but there’s no attribution whatsoever. Are you aware of this?
I was in Surabaya, and quite in shock. Because it’s a high profile magazine, the one whose market is upper class society, A-class readers, presented in glamorous look, on premium paper, the one you can’t just randomly find at the newsstand, for they are exclusively distributed at certain pickup points such as cafes, hotels, lounges and fancy restaurants. It has its own reader’s club –yes, with all the fancy member card and all–, mailing list and an impressive website.
Arriving in Jakarta 2 days later, I immediately headed off to Mangkok Putih in Citos (Cilandak Town Square) to get one of the magazines. And there it was, on page 16.
I called the magazine and talked to the editor who actually put the picture up. He apologized, he said he was rushed by the deadline and needed the photo badly. He searched through Google Images and found it. From his voice, I could tell he was also in shock, kinda helpless, knowing he just made the most humiliating, most avoided mistake in media industry.
He called me back after awhile, offered me a 1/3 page of space in their next issue, to be used for anything I want. “You can even put your photo on it,” he said.
I expected this. I knew they will offer me “goodies” like announcing apology slash correction, some space on the magazine page, you know, standard bribery that can make a moron jump out of his chair proclaiming a loud yes. But I don’t want any of those. I don’t want announced apology, correction, or even space on the page. Too late for a written apology or correction, no one would even pay attention to such things. I want my photo to be professionally bought, properly attributed on the actual article. Since I can’t get proper attribution on the actual article anymore, I just want them to “buy” that photo, or in other words, pay a small compensation for the unpermitted publication.
He said that the normal price is very low, around 80 thousand rupiahs for a photo that size. I said, “If it is legally bought, yes. Well, hello, it’s not. *You stole my photo, is it that hard to comprehend?* If you want to use my photos, talk to me, I give you my best work for that price, I’ll be proud. Besides, I’m not a random photographer who stocks piles of random photos to be sold at a wholesale price. I’m an artisan photographer. The process of making one photo goes way back from finding the right recipe, tested it, sometimes over and over again, until I finally got the best result, with the best texture, best crack, then styled it and took lots and lots of shots to get one that deserves a place on my blog.” We, foodiebloggers, do that. We are artisan food photographers. “I am not digging gold here. I just want to get this over with. So I can look back to all this fiasco and say, ‘well, at least they bought me some dinner’.”
He said he will call me back. It was the day before yesterday. Today, I sent them an email, asking about the follow up. Let’s wait for their response.
I remain concealing the name of the magazine because they showed a hint of cooperation and negotiation, which I respect. It wouldn’t be fair if I announce now, ruining their reputation to wider readers, while they’re probably willing to correct this and still in discussion process with their team. I wouldn’t hesitate to do so, even beyond, if they play me, though, you know that.
Thank you for all your support, I really really appreciate it. I’m not the kind of person who can deal very well with conflict. So, your support injects a huge energy to my system. Thank you so much for that.
I’ll keep you all posted.
Previous Chapter
Update on this
Comment by Jennifer — November 15, 2007 @ 1:06 pm
Good for you! I hope they come through for you to make up in some small way for stealing from you.
Comment by mona — November 15, 2007 @ 1:17 pm
maju terus mbak!! jangan mau ngalah. Kalaupun kepepet tapi niatnya baik dari awal mestinya cantumkan darimana dapat foto itu. Mungkin lebih baik minta 1/3 space halamannya itu mengumumkan permintaan maaf aja? mereka juga akan lebih dihargai pembaca karena jujur mengaku khilaf.
Comment by mila — November 15, 2007 @ 3:57 pm
*sigh* smoga berakhir sesuai dengan your expected ending, mbak. aamiin…
Comment by Vavai — November 15, 2007 @ 3:58 pm
I hope this kind of problem will be ended with the win-win solution. It seems that some people out there think that the image on the Google search or another in the internet is not properly reserved
.
It could be OK that the photo is about 80 thousand rupiahs if we talk just the photo as is, but it’s not just a photos. The photo, in this moment just like something like an art.
BTW, I really appreciated this blog. With this bridge-blogging style and good content inside, I hope I can proposed the author into Asia Blogging Network. as one of the ABN-City Blogging channel writer, I must much learn from this nice blog.
Comment by Pepy — November 15, 2007 @ 4:07 pm
*Sigh* You know what! Do not take their offer for 1/3 page of space. Make them pay that photo since it was stolen and it’s a part of art.
Comment by budi sutomo — November 15, 2007 @ 4:19 pm
persis kasusku mbak, 3 tulisan di copy paste di majalah tanpa ijin : http://budiboga.blogspot.com/search?q=copy+paste
Comment by swissmiss — November 15, 2007 @ 10:09 pm
pfff. isn’t 80,000 rupiahs approximately $8 ?! They should be ashamed of themselves to even suggest such an insignificant figure. I’m glad that you’re holding your own and not caving to their “bribery,” and I commend you for your discretion in dealing with them. You rock!
Comment by Kalyn — November 16, 2007 @ 9:42 am
It does sound like you’re taking a very professional and fair approach. I hope they will do the right thing, and if they don’t you should definitely reveal the name of the magazine.
Comment by yuli — November 16, 2007 @ 1:35 pm
maju terus aja ri….buat majalah sekaliber itu mestinya aware dengan hal kayaq gini
Comment by resti vurwarin — November 16, 2007 @ 2:50 pm
kok menghina bgt ya mbak…80 ribu untuk sesuatu yang mereka ambil duluan. Oh, God. Sementara untuk mendapatkan foto itu, usaha mbak banyak dikerahkan. mencoba resep, kalo perlu berulang2, begitu sudah dapat bentuk dan rasa yang tepat, menatanya, kemudian nyari sudut yang tepat, bikin bbrp shoot, untuk mengambilgambar terbaik. hmmmm….80 ribu….???
Comment by eliza — November 17, 2007 @ 12:55 pm
kalo ini mentalnya editor majalah terkenal di indonesia, bagaimana bisa jadi world class magazine, world class company? it’s really too bad you have to deal with this issue, but i know you’re a strong girl and you will overcome this!
Comment by eliza — November 17, 2007 @ 12:58 pm
one more thing, you should publish the name & contact person/address for this magazine if you couldn’t resolve it properly. let us, your foodie bloggers bombard them with lots of complaints to them. heeeh…kitanya ikutan panas nih!
Comment by Nihal — November 19, 2007 @ 4:39 am
Essalam!!
I have read your entry with a great interest.I think that is a very nice story.Needless to say what they did was not right however it seems they are sorry and want to pay for that somehow.So think that way; one harm brought up a hayr may be.May be that page will be page of your life .That maybe will be your biggest step you have ever taken in your career.Allah loves to forgive and He loves those who forgive too.Its always best to think twice.I am wondering for your news.
Comment by sally — November 19, 2007 @ 11:24 am
piracy…piracy…piracy…capek deeeh! Mudah2an ketemu jalan keluar yg terbaik ya. Btw, saya cukup salut dgn majalah tsb yang mau bernegosiasi. Gini hari mana ada majalah besar yang mau mengakui kesalahannya. Tul gak?…mudah2an tidak terjebak menjadi seorang yg opportunis…amin.
Comment by Mimin — November 21, 2007 @ 3:01 am
always in the name of deadline that they justify a mistake like this…I heard about a similiar story in ¨C¨ magazine for middle-upper class women in Indonesia.
ah.. clasic story of the magazine. I wonder what kind of pressure they experience by working in a mag…
May i know under what topic they published this?
Good Luck Riana for this, you are very brave to confront them directly!
Comment by ayudi — November 23, 2007 @ 9:13 pm
Dear Rianna,
I wish you all the best, keep fighting on!
Comment by Elyani — November 24, 2007 @ 10:42 am
80,000 Rupiahs, are they joking? Make them pay you 80 grand Singapore/Australian/Canadian Dollar. Anything less than that is not justified. Go get them, girl!
Comment by manju — November 25, 2007 @ 8:28 pm
Good for you, Riana! We’ll be following this story on your site.
Comment by mira — November 26, 2007 @ 2:42 pm
Arogan sekali ya editor itu, mentang-mentang majalah terkenal. Dimana-mana sepertinya orang dibayar untuk memuat artikel. Kalau iklan lain cerita. Bagaimanapun itu merupakan pelanggaran kode etik jurnalisme jadi harus dibayar dengan memuat kembali artikel yang bersangkutan dengan mencantumkan nama anda dalam foto yg dimaksud, jika tidak laporkan saja ke PWI, IKAPI atau sejenisnya. Lain kali, cantumkan tandatangan anda dalam foto atau tulisan lainnya agar sulit dibajak.
Comment by SUSAN — November 26, 2007 @ 9:11 pm
Wahh, sering kali yah editor itu nyuri karya orang lain, tapi baru kali ini kena batunya. Woho, kamu ketahuan sering nyolong.
Comment by ratih — November 27, 2007 @ 5:52 pm
they really don’t know whom they’re dealing with!
go mbakRiana go!
btw, emang potona kuerreenn banget syiih..
Comment by senaz — November 28, 2007 @ 7:34 pm
mba Ri..how’s thing goin on? is there any news from them mba? hope it’ll be a good news.
Comment by Ellen Antheunis. — December 3, 2007 @ 4:58 pm
How embarrasing for such a reputate magazine ! Piracy is an easy way but high risk indeed. I know how rush dan deadline meant for ppl who work in media but not THIEEFFF…d’oh ! such a shallow and how stupid can you be ! dont be an editor in media if you can’t deal with deadlines.
Comment by senaz — December 4, 2007 @ 8:11 pm
wuah..kok ga tlalu bgs sih mba perkembangannya?..hiks..*ikut sedih*..ku tunggu loh postingannya..~miss u2
Comment by endhy priyono — December 6, 2007 @ 2:18 pm
Hai mbak Ri, koq lama gak diupdate lagi blognya..aku udah kangen dengan hasil jepretannya..Mbak Ri, aku posting tulisan mbak Riana tentang pennylane brownies di files ncc ke blog-ku, boleh kan mbak? Mudah-mudahan boleh ^_^
Comment by dita — December 10, 2007 @ 7:39 pm
gw mengalami hal yang sama mbak. Foto makanan gw pernah dipake dalam banner besar sebuah promosi kursus masak sebuah Supermarket ternama.
Comment by edya — December 10, 2007 @ 9:03 pm
Mbak dita, boleh tau nama supermarketnya?
Comment by vinny — December 10, 2007 @ 9:14 pm
win win solusion aja yah, kalo semua niatnya baik pasti happy ending, OK sister ??? sekarang ngomongin yg asyik2 aja deh ” for the love of baking” gitu loh…
Comment by endhy priyono — December 11, 2007 @ 11:15 am
Alhamdulillah boleh, kemarin udah sempat aku publish di blog ku tp karena ragu boleh apa nggak, jadinya aku tarik lagi. Thanks ya mbak Ri..kalo sempet maen-maen ya liat postinganku tentang pennylane brownies ^_^
Comment by Sharon — December 21, 2007 @ 11:49 pm
Turut merasa bete sama pencuri-pencuri itu…