Bild, the largest selling newspaper in Germany, seems to be causing a sensation by publishing user-generated camera phone photos, sparked by the World Cup soccer championships but not ending there, according to an article in the International Herald Tribune (IHT).
The article says, "Bild's 'Leser-Reporter' feature (see below), introduced during the World Cup, brought its readership daily shots of celebrities, politicians and soccer stars -- taken from the cellphone cameras of quick-thinking passers-by."
Photos were uploaded directly to the newspaper's Web site or transmitted via e-mail attachments or MMS.
The IHT says, "The paper paid €500 to €1,000, or $638 to $1,270, for photos printed in the Reader-Reporter pages, and by the end of the World Cup soccer tournament, as many as 1,000 photos were streaming in daily.
"Bild has decided to extend the venture and join a growing number of European publications that are taking advantage of cellphone technology to reach new levels of reader interactivity and, some say, invasion of privacy."
Legal involvement
Indeed, lawyers are getting involved and the article notes how one prominent German attorney, Christian Schertz, has been taking Bild to court to get camera phone photos removed from the newspaper.
Schertz says, "I'm reminded of George Orwell. The normal citizen is encouraged to watch a fellow citizen. And he even gets money for it."
Different European countries have different laws regarding privacy. The article notes the laws range from the "strict, celebrity-friendly laws in France to an anything-goes attitude in Britain that has given us Chancellor Angela Merkel's exposed bottom and Kate Moss's cocaine exploits."
Comments