"Scott" wrote in message
...
Sell - I would have donated in the public interest.

If I was ever in the position of being the only person to film a newsworthy
event, I would offer it to the news agencies on the non-negotiable condition
that they do not have exclusive rights to it and that I will be offering it
also to other broadcasters and expect payment from anyone who uses it - and
I will walk away from any company that says "we will pay you extra if you
give us exclusive rights".

I remember years ago being first on the scene (apart from the ambulance and
fire brigade) at a damage-only collision and car fire. I happened to have my
camera with me, so I took a few photos, developed them in my darkroom and
went round to the various free newspapers in town asking whether they were
interested in buying the photos. The first paper, the weekly one, tried the
"exclusive deal" line and I said "not interested". They upped the cost so I
said "it's not the money, it's the exclusive part of the deal that I'm not
interested in" and walked away.

I eventually sold the photo (for a pittance!) to one of their competitors,
and opted for a by-line in lieu of payment from a third paper - I'd got what
I wanted: a bit of money and a bit of publicity. The Bucks Herald lost their
chance to print the photo because they wanted to be greedy and have
exclusive rights to it.