Saturday, October 15, 2011

The Lion of Tahrir in Egyptian Media

And so I found my Lion of Tahrir photo featured in the first page of the Al Ahram newspaper’s Friday weekly supplement today uncredited.

Here is Al Ahram’s supplement front page

Lion of Egyptian Revolution in Al Ahram News supplement

Here is my original photo

The lion of Egyptian revolution

It is a great thing to have one of your photos in Al Ahram newspaper in this way without doubt especially it was as an image background for a beautiful poem about our martyrs and those who killed them but it is uncredited.

Unfortunately it is not the first time it happens to me especially with this photo which I believe was one of the best shots I have taken so far. “It was taken by simple Point and Shoot Sony P200 Cyber Shot”

It started with Facebook groups and pages like the Second Wrath revolution page that took it without even contacting me then I found the photo’s big moment was when it was featured in the promo of the weekly episode of Belal Fadl from “Fel Midan” TV show. It was beautiful thing but nobody approached me while I chose for my photos “attribution license creative commons” but it does not surprise me that people in Egypt do not know. You may use my photos as you want but as the CC license says : All CC licenses require users to attribute the original creator(s) of a work, unless the creator has waived that requirement or asked that her name be removed from an adaptation or collection.

Of course I have not forgotten the RNN’s incident and Safwat Hegazy photo.

I have restricted my photos download from now on.

I do not want to watermark my photos.

I will try to contact Al Ahram Newspaper.

By the way if you are interested in seeing more beautiful photos from the real Tahrir square days then I recommend that you buy this amazing book : Messages from Tahrir.

It is available in big bookstores in Egypt as well as in Amazon

And yes one of my photos is included in this amazing book thanks to the wonderful and sweet Dr. Karima Khalil. She was the first to advise to disable downloads for my photos.

11 comments:

  1. Sorry they did this - it's a beautiful photo. I hope they print a correction/apology!

    ReplyDelete
  2. الابنه زنوبيايبقي انتي صحيح في مصر لما تشوفي مجهودك ورؤيتك او فنك اوشغلك بيسرق منك يبقي انت في مصر بعد ماجاءها المخلوع وعلي رأي المثل اذا كان رب البيت بالدف ضارب فشيمه أهل البيت كلهم الرقص للأسف السرقه بقت سمه موجوده في جميع القطاعات والمصيبه الكبري في القطاع الجامعي بعض اساتذه الجامعه يسرقون مجهود تلاميذهم سواء برضا اوبغير رضا ربنا يحافظ علي مجهوداتكم ويحافظ علي رؤاكم وفنكم ولله الأمر من قبل ومن بعد

    ReplyDelete
  3. I had it as my profile pic on BBM for a while right after toppling Mubarak. I couldn't find a better pic to express what I wanted to say "أنا الشعب". Sorry I got it off google pics not knowing who's pic is it. Great pic anyways

    ReplyDelete
  4. Egyptians don't even know what (cc) means. They don't bother caring. It's like they think it is not a (big deal) you know. I had this problem too but it happened with friends who used the cartoons I draw and the photos I capture to post on Facebook as their. Sick attitude really, so annoying!!

    ReplyDelete
  5. I have used your photos on the Middle East Institute Editor's blog many times, but have ALWAYS credited them and always will. I'm appalled that a newspaper that has much to lose if their owhn copyright is infringed would do this.

    Michael Dunn
    Editor, Middle East Journal

    ReplyDelete
  6. That is a great photo, Z. I know how you feel. An Egyptian blogger being ripped off by Al Ahram is like an American blogger being ripped off by The New York Times. And as it happens... D.D. Guttenplan of The New York Times stole one of my stories about Mohamed El Naschie. By the way his piece has been human-translated into Arabic and can be read here: The D.D. Guttenplan piece in Arabic.

    ReplyDelete
  7. actions speak louder than voice. thank you is just a word. you are on the first page of Al-Ahram newspaper. one of the biggest newspaper in Egypt!!!!!! the fact that the editors of Ahram reading your blog and counting on it as the newspaper source its amazing. don't worry the recognition will come with time. i told you before i i'll tell you again, for most of us you are the eyes and voice to what happens now in Egypt. you give color and sharpness to picture call Egypt. meanwhile i know it is not much and i'm not Ahram newspaper but i what to thank you for what you are doing!!!!
    Orit

    ReplyDelete
  8. الصورة دي مسروقة ومن العيب والعار ان تستخدمو صور بدون ذكر مصدرها ولك هذه تريتكم انتم يا اتباع النظام ايا كان

    ReplyDelete
  9. Meanwhile, The New York Times reports:

    "Two members of the military council that took power after the ouster of former President Hosni Mubarak said for the first time in interviews this week that they planned to retain full control of the Egyptian government even after the election of a new Parliament begins in November. The legislature will remain in a subordinate role similar to Mr. Mubarak’s former Parliament, they said, with the military council appointing the prime minister and cabinet."

    Egypt’s Military Expands Power, Raising Alarms, The New York Times

    I think you peeps are screwed. Guns talk louder than people I'm afraid. SCAF doesn't seem to be in a mood to give the power of the guns to the people.

    ReplyDelete
  10. While Egyptians are not the only ones who borrow photos (and also text) without attribution, it does make me angry when it is from a copyrighted work. For ex. an entire chapter of mine has been published in Japanese and private photos, copyrighted text and more (especially on Asmahan) appear all over & forget about anyone observing the clause on film rights etc. With photography and internet sharing, we all need to credit sources.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Any use of a photo licensed under Creative Commons (CC) license requires not only for the owner to be credited, but also a link back to the source AND a link to the CC license. The link to the CC page describing the particular license used is not an option, it is legally required. It also helps educate others and notify the person intending to reuse the image, what the restrictions of reuse are.

    ReplyDelete

Thank You for your comment
Please keep it civilized here, racist and hateful comments are not accepted
The Comments in this blog with exclusion of the blog's owner does not represent the views of the blog's owner.