Last but not least: Blick explains the paywall
Tele M1 came under fire from Ringier today. The reason: the use of images that were actually intended exclusively for *Blick*.
What followed was an explanation to the Aargauer: Not everything on the Internet is free, according to editor-in-chief Ralph Grosse-Bley. Actually, one can only agree with Blick here. Taking over content from others without citing the source - fie! But you don't need a paywall or a paywall declaration for that. For a moment, there was the suspicion that Blick had secretly introduced the paywall instead of the announced paywall wait until autumn 2013 at the latest. For competing media companies, the rules of decency and etiquette apply even without a paywall.
Of course, it's a different story when a bus full of schoolchildren crashes into a tunnel wall in Valais. In March 2012, the Media Week an interview with Ralph Grosse-Bley (sic!) conducted by Ringier, in which he commented on the accusations of the Flemish media minister. The latter criticized that just because pictures are available on the Internet, they should not be used - the Swiss newspaper showed pictures of the deceased children. Found in social (and paywall-free) networks. Quote Grosse-Bley: "Look, to give this tragedy a face, to make it tangible, you can't just show a mere tunnel, a destroyed bus and a breakdown niche." One makes the newspaper for the readers, not for the press council and the media journalists of the competition.
Perhaps Tele M1 also wanted to make the murders a bit more tangible and not just show the community center of Dulliken SO (archive image). But until one day the whole world has introduced the paywall, it's one thing to respect image rights in general.
Thomas Häusermann
