About the Thruth

April 22, 2008 by pmelcher.

I would like to take a break and ask those of you who have, or will, threatened me with a lawsuit to please stop. In slightly more than a year since I have started writing this blog about the photo industry solely for my pleasure, I am now to the third lawsuit threat.

It is getting annoying. This is a blog, not a news outlet. I do not have the time to verify my facts and very often, I just go with my guts. I might be wrong, In which case a simple, polite email will do the trick. I have no problem admitting that I am wrong and making a correction. I have done it in the past and will do it again. Piece of cake.

This just shows the state of our industry where some companies feel that suing a blog like mine will change the perception that the world has of them. I have news for you : the world doesn’t care. They don’t even know we exist. When people open a magazine, they certainly enjoy the pictures they see, but they really, really do not care where they came from or how they made it in the magazine.  They hardly know what a photo editor does and even less what a photo agency is.

And they do not care. So all these claims that have made irreparable damages to your business are just stones in the wind. If you have great pictures to sell, they will buy them, regardless if I said you are a schmuck or not.

Furthermore, 90 % of the time, I just write about what everyone is talking about. It is no secret. And when people ask me not to repeat something, you know what ? I don’t.

So keep you hard earned money in your pockets instead of hiring an expensive New York lawyer who will have a hard time going after the first amendment of the United States  constitution. What happened to the ancient Greek  arts of dialogue, debate and healthy  conversations ? Why hire someone else to do your speaking on your behalf ?

If you have a problem with something I wrote, you have three options :

- stop reading my blog, nobody forces you to.

- send me an email  telling me where I have been wrong and if it is proven right, I will promptly make the correction.

- post a commentary. I have, to this date, never censored a comment, how nasty it might be.

But please remember that this is my opinion and nothing else. It is intended to trigger a reaction and a healthy debate. It is not the absolute truth but just my personal take on it. And for the sake of everyone else who do enjoy reading what I write (the majority, fortunately), please keep your lawyers handy for copyright infringements and other real threats to your business. Suing me and forcing  me to shut down my blog will NOT make your business profitable. And that is the truth.

Posted in magazine, copyright, editorial, law, news | Print | No Comments »