GroundUp article ignores the rights of content creators — PicRights

On 15 November 2022, GroundUp published an article by Daniel Steyn slating PicRights — a company established to protect the copyright and intellectual property of photographers around the world. The article was republished by Daily Maverick.

The behaviour of PicRights was described as “trolling” and predatory. It is unfortunate, although not entirely unexpected that PicRights was not contacted for comment. [We attempted to phone PicRights - GroundUp Editor]

It must be pointed out, that an e-mail address is clearly available on the website, and that GroundUp had, by their own admission, been in contact directly with a PicRights agent in the past. This was done via e-mail.

As a result, the article was extremely one-sided and entirely ignored the rights and plight of photographers, who are also facing the same economic challenges as those companies and organisations that are using their content without compensation.

It is concerning that, while the role that small independent publishers play in townships and rural areas is rightly recognised in GroundUp’s piece, the role that content creators play is ignored. Ever-diminishing publishing budgets have resulted in dramatic decreases in job opportunities for photographers over the last 10 to 15 years. Countless award-winning South African photojournalists have been forced to leave the industry as a result.