“Who’s responsible for what”
when a publisher, third-party website,
or other third party content-provider
puts a TrustImage-labeled photo before the publicThese terms are non-negotiable.
Any photographer who finds the following terms
unacceptable should not submit for publication
photographs bearing the TrustImage label.
(In particular, photographers should bear in mind
the long-term consequences of #10.)Publishers (print or web) who find the following terms
unacceptable may simply opt to not use the
TrustImage label at all (see #2 and #5 below).1. The photographer is always* fully, solely, personally, and publicly responsible for the appropriateness TrustImage of the TrustImage label on any photograph — published, submitted, or otherwise. The publication or other third-party content-provider assumes no responsibility whatsoever for the appropriateness of the TrustImage label on submitted photographs (see also #8-10 below).
*The only exception would be if a publication or other third-party content-provider mislabeled, mis-presented, or manipulated the content of the photograph after it was out of the hands of the photographer (see #3 and #4 below).
2. No publication or other third-party content-provider is ever obligated to publish the TrustImage label (as long as all TrustImage-labeled submissions are treated equally).Photographers who submit photographs for publication in print or on the web are always free to label appropriately-qualified photographs as TrustImage, but if the publisher or other third-party content-provider does not publish photographs with the TrustImage label, that photograph too may be published without it (see #5 below). (As always, of course, the publisher or third-party content-provider may simply choose not to publish a photograph at all!) The publication or third-party content-provider may also choose to locate the TrustImage label remotely from the photograph, for example on the masthead page or copyright page.
3. The publication or other third-party content-provider must leave the submitted photograph “as is” to the greatest degree practical.
In most situations, at least minor sizing changes are necessary to format a submitted photograph for publication or web posting, and tonal/color adjustments are often needed to accommodate output needs. But the publication or other third-party content-provider cannot do any deceptive or misleading post-shutter alterations to a TrustImage-labeled photograph and cannot perform any actions on the photograph that are not listed on the What Can Be Done page (unless, of course, the photographer agrees to any manipulations not listed on that page and the resulting photograph is published without the TrustImage label).
4. The publication or other third-party content-provider cannot compromise the photograph’s TrustImage eligibility by misrepresenting it.
Anytime the photographer attaches to a TrustImage-labeled photograph any presentation-related conditions that are required for the photograph to meet Q3 (for example, a captive-animal photograph labeled with “Controlled conditions” or “CC” because the animal is not visibly captive in the photo) then IF the photograph is to be labeled as TrustImage when published, it is the responsibility of the publication or other third-party content-provider to make the audience aware of those conditions (see “B. Labeling” on the Using TrustImage page). This “no-misrepresentation” policy for publishers and other third-party content-providers applies to ALL misrepresentations of what a TrustImage photograph depicts.
It is fully and solely the photographer’s responsibility to alert the publication or other third-party content-provider if the photograph does not depict what it appears to depict. The publication or third-party content-provider is never responsible for checking the appropriateness of the TrustImage label on submitted photographs (see #8 below), and any situations in which the photographer fails to alert the publisher or third-party content-provider about unapparent circumstances of the photograph qualify as “inappropriate labeling of the photograph as TrustImage by the photographer” (see #10 below).
(Every photograph ever made contains “unapparent circumstances,” of course; as noted under “B. Labeling” on the Using TrustImage page, if an unapparent aspect of a photograph would not warrant separate explanation by a newspaper, the TrustImage photographer need not make special note of that aspect either.)In other words, failure to alert viewers, publishers, and other third-party content-providers about unapparent circumstances in a TrustImage-labeled photograph constitutes “inappropriate applying of the TrustImage label” just as surely as does, for example, attaching the TrustImage label to a photograph in which things that weren’t in the original scene when the photograph was taken were later digitally added.
5. The publication or other third-party content-provider cannot “remove” the TrustImage label from an individual photograph without the photographer’s consent if other photographs in the same context are published with the label.
Publications and other third-party content-providers must handle equally the labeling of all TrustImage-labeled photographs that they publish in a given article, issue, or context. They need not publish the TrustImage label at all (see #2 above), but if they publish some TrustImage-labeled photographs in a given context, they cannot discriminate against an individual TrustImage photograph by publishing it without the TrustImage label (unless the photographer gives them permission to do so).
However, publishers and other third-party content-providers do have three options when they suspect or confirm that a submitted photograph was inappropriately labeled TrustImage by the photographer: (1) not run the photo at all; (2) tell the photographer they do not want to run the photograph if it is labeled TrustImage and let the photographer choose between having the photograph published without the label or not having it published at all; or (3) run the photo with the label and remind viewers that the photographer is fully and solely responsible for the appropriateness of the TrustImage label (see #10 below for more on this third option).
6. Publications and other third-party content-providers cannot add the TrustImage label to a photograph if the photographer has not designated it TrustImage-compatible; only the photographer can label a photograph “TrustImage.”Thus if publications and other third-party content-providers do not see the TrustImage label on a photograph, the photograph will be published without the label. The photographer (or his or her representative) who submits a TrustImage-labeled photograph is strongly encouraged to note separately (in a cover email or letter and/or in follow-up correspondence before publication) every image that the photographer wishes to be labeled as TrustImage. (This is true even when submitting photographs in which the word “TrustImage” is included in the border of the photograph, because if the TrustImage label is not in the image area it will be cropped out and could subsequently be overlooked).
7. The publication or other third-party content-provider must always publish the photographer’s name in the same context, article, issue, or website as the photograph when publishing a photograph with the TrustImage label. (See section “C” on the Using TrustImage page.)
Viewers can ignore the TrustImage label when the photographer is not identified, because the TrustImage label is meaningless if the viewer cannot associate it with the individual photographer who is personally guaranteeing that the photograph meets TrustImage’s three qualifications. The name of the photographer need not be published adjacent to the photograph or adjacent to the TrustImage label: both the label and the photographer’s name may be placed — together or separately — elsewhere in that issue, book, or website, as long as the reader/viewer who wishes to identify the photographer can do so.
8. Publications and other third-party content-providers that publish TrustImage-labeled photographs are never responsible for checking or verifying the validity of the TrustImage label when it comes attached to a submitted photo. (See #5 above for the three options of handling photographs that appear to have been inappropriately mislabeled TrustImage.)
The appropriateness of the label is entirely the photographer’s responsibility. The publication or other third-party content-provider is completely taking the photographer’s word regarding non-deception, non-misrepresentation, and non-manipulation during all of the stages of the image’s creation that occur before the photograph was submitted. TrustImage’s submission guidelines for linking by publishers and other third-party content-providers (which is linked to the Guides contents page, {currently disabled}) explicitly absolve the publisher or third-party content-provider of any responsibility for the pre-submission stages in the development of each photograph.
9. The publication or other third-party content-provider is completely free of responsibility or blame if it turns out that the photographer inappropriately labeled the photograph as TrustImage.
If after publication (in print or on the web) it is learned or revealed that a TrustImage-labeled photograph did NOT in fact meet the three qualifications of the TrustImage Guarantee when it was submitted to the publication, the fault lies entirely with the photographer, not with the publication or third-party content-provider that put the inappropriately-labeled photograph before the public.
10. The publication or third-party content-provider is free at any time to publicly point out to readers, site visitors, and viewers that the photographer is solely responsible for labeling a photograph as TrustImage.
This includes doing so in the aftermath of situations in which it is revealed that a photograph was inappropriately labeled TrustImage by the photographer.
(Obviously such a declaration could permanently damage the photographer’s reputation and chances of getting published elsewhere, but that is a prospect the photographer must weigh before submitting a photograph with the TrustImage label.)To attach the TrustImage label to a photograph that is put before the public is to personally and publicly vouch that the photograph meets all three qualifications of the TrustImage Guarantee. As noted in #1 above, the photographer takes SOLE responsibility for the appropriateness of the TrustImage label on a photograph submitted for publication. The publication or other third-party content-provider assumes no responsibility whatsoever for the appropriateness of the TrustImage label on submitted photographs (see also #8 and #9 above).
Again, these terms are non-negotiable. Any photographer who finds these terms unacceptable should not submit for publication photographs bearing the TrustImage label.
11. Although the single word “TrustImage” sufficiently denotes that the photographer is standing behind all three qualifications in the TrustImage Guarantee, publications and other third-party content-providers are free to further emphasize the photographer’s personal accountability any way they wish and/or to refer viewers with questions to this website.For example, publishers and other third-party content-providers may choose to use the explanation below of why the word “TrustImage” is next to various photographs, even if the statement is used only once in a central location:
Sample phrasing: “The TrustImage label on a photograph represents the individual photographer’s personal guarantee that the photograph meets the TrustImage.org standard for nonmanipulation and nonmisrepresentation.”
The “.org” may be omitted from the statement above and from all references to TrustImage except copyright notations on lengthy passages copied from this website.
This declaration is entirely optional, however, as the single word “TrustImage” already conveys the photographer’s personal accountability, as expressed in the opening clause of the TrustImage Guarantee.
12. There is never any registration, licensing, or other obligation to contact TrustImage.org when using TrustImage, neither by photographers nor by publishers or other third-party content-providers.Anyone may contact TrustImage.org at any time with specific inquiries, of course, but there is never any expectation of contact when using TrustImage. (“Like the term ‘Nonfiction,’ TrustImage is a principle, not a product.”)