Dispute over photo rights part of growing trend

CHICAGO -- When Metamora's Brennen VanMieghem kicked a game-winning field goal in the weekend's state high school football championships, photographers assigned to cover the action for his hometown paper weren't on the field.

Relegated to the stands and press box, the Peoria Journal Star photographers -- along with those from four other Illinois newspapers -- were banned by the Illinois High School Association because of an ongoing fight with the state press association over rights to sell photographs from high school championships.

The months-long feud, echoing similar disputes across the country, is pitting publishers pushing for a free press against athletic officials who claim newspapers with falling revenue are trying to profit off athletes.

The Illinois stalemate escalated earlier this month when the Illinois Press Association filed a lawsuit over the IHSA's media policies, which include a provision aimed at preventing newspapers from selling state championship pictures taken by staff photographers.

"Our intention is to enforce our media policy and to protect our rights," said Marty Hickman, IHSA's executive director. "Whether it means denying credentials or it means litigation, those options are out there."

At issue is a seven-year-old contract between the state athletic association and Visual Image Photography Inc. that grants the commercial photographer exclusive rights to state championship photos.

In exchange for the right to sell action shots of athletes to a hungry audience of parents, boosters and relatives, the IHSA receives a virtually limitless library of images from the Cedarburg, Wis., company for its own promotional material.

The IHSA, which values the deal at tens of thousands of dollars, in turn prohibits credentialed media from selling their own pictures from championship events.

Negotiations this fall managed to reach a small accord, allowing newspaper and commercial photographers equal access to athletes and allowing newspapers to create online photo galleries of events.

But both sides remain entrenched on the ban of photo sales, which newspapers argue is unfair and interferes with their ability to cover legitimate news.

"I see this as the IHSA sticking its nose into something it shouldn't be sticking its nose in to," said Don Craven, a lawyer that represents the Illinois Press Association. "Why is it the role of an association of primarily public schools to make money for a photographer?"

Athletic officials said they had no choice but to ban photographers last weekend because of the lawsuit, which remains on hold, though the press association said it's unsure why some papers were targeted and others that continue to sell pictures were excluded.

"From our point of view, we have the right to have an agreement with a commercial photographer," Hickman said. "And what the newspapers are doing is entering into the commercial photography business. Selling a picture doesn't seem to me to have anything to do with a news story."