Should I give my video to the news media?

November 10, 2016 7:55 PM

I took a video at an anti-Trump protest. Just chanting and marching, nothing too dramatic. NBC assignment editor contacted me on Twitter and wants to use on "all platforms/partners (with credit)". Any downside? It feels weird to give this away for free, but OTOH I'm sure she's not going to pay me for it. I don't care if my Twitter handle is associated with it.
posted by AFABulous to Grab Bag (15 answers total)

They're not going to pay you unless you caught something extraordinary, because you'd have leverage, and multiple outlets interested in it. (I had a short stint in the news business.) Give it to them if it makes you feel good to spread it around, or walk away if you don't. There is no $$ upside to this if you just caught "normal" (!!!!!) Trump-associated business.
posted by BlahLaLa at 8:01 PM on November 10, 2016 [6 favorites]

Give it to them! Expect no money.
posted by jbenben at 8:17 PM on November 10, 2016 [1 favorite]

I wouldn't give it for free. If your video didn't have value they wouldn't be asking for it. Once upon a time they would have sent a paid employee to take some video, now they want to get the same thing for free from you. Doesn't seem like something you should encourage.
posted by any portmanteau in a storm at 8:27 PM on November 10, 2016 [10 favorites]

I have had Instagram and Twitter pictures used by the media. The most you will get is attribution. I picked up a bunch of followers because of it, but it was really just a 15 minutes of fame thing. Most likes I ever got type thing.
posted by AugustWest at 8:41 PM on November 10, 2016 [3 favorites]

You collected information about an important event and shared it on social media because you wanted people to see it. NBC agrees that more people should see it and would like to make that happen.

If you hold out for money, they will either get different footage from somewhere else, or not have footage to share about this important event. (It's possible they did have a paid employee on site, but your video adds another point of view that is helpful in understanding the event.)

You never planned to earn money from it, so let them use it.
posted by itesser at 8:46 PM on November 10, 2016 [12 favorites]

Once upon a time they would have sent a paid employee to take some video, now they want to get the same thing for free from you.

No; once upon a time an anchor would have mentioned it in one sentence without any video.
posted by incessant at 9:08 PM on November 10, 2016 [10 favorites]

Well, a question is, is this a news outlet, or the new J. Edgar Comey style FBI. Trump is accusing marchers of being paid shills. I would not give film of protestors to anyone.
posted by Oyéah at 9:31 PM on November 10, 2016 [3 favorites]

Generally, if "it feels weird," you should not do it.
posted by aralymn at 9:31 PM on November 10, 2016 [2 favorites]

This has seemed pretty standard for random social media photo/videos.
posted by rhizome at 11:32 PM on November 10, 2016

The only downside I can think of -- TV producers love to act like they are doing you this huge favor by having you do their jobs for them -- tell NBC to start coming to these marches and doing the shoe leather reporting themselves instead of relying on social media.
posted by johngoren at 1:52 AM on November 11, 2016 [2 favorites]

I think you should share it, because the point of a protest is to make your voice heard, and having those voices heard by the masses is a larger benefit than the cash, to me. This is not the time to take a moral stand against the media's practice of poaching from social media, regardless of whether you think how they've adapted to social media is correct or not.
posted by DoubleLune at 3:59 AM on November 11, 2016

Response by poster: Reader, I gave them permission to use it, although I don't know where and how it will be shown. Here's the video.
posted by AFABulous at 4:59 AM on November 11, 2016 [2 favorites]

Just popped in to say (for posterity or whatever) that they were largely doing you a courtesy by asking. If it was a public tweet, they have a pretty decent claim to fair use, which they don't need permission for. (Obviously this is dependent on the way they presented it and framed it when used.)
posted by daniel striped tiger at 5:09 AM on November 11, 2016 [1 favorite]

Give it. Why? Because in his first few tweets their president elect lied, again, calling protestors -paid professionals. Your video shows a woman with a kid in a pram. And regular folks. This is the side of the protest that the world needs to see before the trump trolls smear peaceful protest with their own diatribe.
posted by metajim at 7:45 AM on November 11, 2016 [7 favorites]

NBC helped (SNL, Fallon) to legitimize this monster. IMHO, screw them and their video request.
posted by 4ster at 6:55 PM on November 13, 2016