My comment on the NBC Nightly News blog

Just posted this . . . it has to be approved by them.

I'm always delighted to see the rare art feature on the Nightly News, so thank you for featuring the waterfalls tonight. But . . . I'm very disappointed that the artist wasn't credited with the work. The least you could have done was mention his name: Olafur Eliasson. Artists are unsung heroes in our culture–helping us look at everyday things (like the Brooklyn Bridge) in different ways. I wish you would have given him credit.

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6 thoughts on “My comment on the NBC Nightly News blog”

  1. Bravo Alyson!!! Well said! This is one of my all time pet peeves and I cringe when this happens. It happens more often than it should too. I remember a few years ago, I had a CAUSE. There was a poem by TAYLOR MALI called “What Teachers Make”. It became a cult phenomenon, traveled the internet like wildfire, and ultimately was used over and over again in speeches and on the news. Just like a game of “Telephone”, somehow, someway Taylor Mali’s name was tossed out and the poem became listed as “anonymous”. When I saw this happen, I became irritated and enraged. I started an email campaign to notify any presenter or website that this poem had an artist behind it and his name was TAYLOR MALI. I am glad you did the same in the case of Olafur Eliasson. We all must give credit where credit is due. Sheree Rensel http://www.wizzlewolf.com

  2. Alyson… good for you. You would think that someone blogging for NBC would know that not crediting the artist is theft. Image grabbing and hot-linking has become so common place on the web and in the blogging world in general. Whenever I share or promote an artist’s work I not only credit with a web-link, I then try to follow up asap and let the artist know that the post is up and if they have a problem with the post we will take it down. I too have made ethical concessions by not e-mailing every single artist I blog on “prior” to posting for posting permission. I found sitting on my hands while awaiting an e-mail responses bogs down the blogging process, and is an organizational nightmare. For some artists however a web-link and credit may still not balance out the shock of seeing their artwork on another site without their permission. So by old school copyright standards I have made mistakes myself.

  3. Kudos to you for speaking up Alyson! To them it wasn’t important. I hope they make a correction and publicly give him the credit. I followed your link and his waterfalls are wonderful! I wish I could see them in person.

  4. Well-said! There is no excuse for a news blog not to give proper credit.I hope when they make the correction, that will bring more public awareness to this artist in addition to the strong points you make regarding the topic of not crediting, plus your compliment that clearly brings to the forefront that this has been a “rare art feature.” Keep them on their toes, Alyson! (Sprained my wrist and arm and not been able to comment in a while, but I have been enjoying reading here and your amazing newsletter.) Thank you again for the varied and informative art news you bring to my inbox!

  5. Hi…based on what you wrote, I wrote this yesterday …( the digital photography tips newsletter had awarded a prize to a photograph of a sculpture without a mention of the sculptor- with many pictures of the sculpture on their website…) you’ll see the response I got… I DON’T SEE ANY CREDIT GIVEN TO THE SCULPTOR …THIS PICTURE IS OF AN > ARTWORK THAT HAS COPYRIGHT TO THE ORIGINAL SCULPTOR …THE PHOTO IS NOT > WHAT IS GREAT , IT WOULD BE NOTHING WITHOUT THE ARTWORK …IT IS YOUR > RESPONSIBILITY TO ENSURE THAT PROPER CREDIT IS GIVEN TO ORIGINAL > ARTWORK & THAT YOUR PHOTOGRAPHERS DO THE SAME WHETHER THEY ARE AMATEUR > OR NOT, YOU CERTAINLY ARE NOT AN AMATEUR & YOUR WEBSITE BENEFITS > FINANCIALLY FROM ALL OF THESE PHOTOS…THUS MAKING YOU LIABLE IF WORKS > ARE DISPLAYED WITHOUT PROPER PERMISSIONS…HOW UNFORTUNATE… I agree the sculptor helped with the image, but my main point in using it was the lighting of the sky and background… not the sculpture itself. And the photo was taken in a public place so no credit from the sculptor is needed. Yours in Photography, David.

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