Has a newspaper printed your photo wrongly?

When newspapers and magazines run stories, they usually included eye-catching stories to make their publications more attractive to their readers. This means that editors and journalists have to source a huge number of images, to keep up with the content they publish, particularly if they are part of an organisation which produces online as well as paper versions of their publications. 

Photographers who followed stories and breaking events, used to be the source of images for newspapers and magazines and it was not uncommon to see photographers camped outside court houses, waiting to take a picture of people who were arriving or leaving court cases.

However, it is becoming more common for newspapers to obtain photographs from non traditional sources, such as from social media accounts, as people self-publish so many photographs of themselves.

Inevitably, newspapers and magazines make mistakes when they publish a photo of someone who is not the person referred to in their news story. This can be because there might be more than one person with the same name on a social media account, or they may have published pictures of people other than themselves. 

Unfortunately, it is not uncommon for a newspaper to accidently include the photo of someone in an article when that individual in fact has no connection with the story being reported. In articles that cover stories about crime, it can lead to the person in the photograph being wrongly identified as being involved with or having committed a criminal act.

When a photograph is published wrongly, this can of course cause serious harm to the reputation of the person in the photo. In some cases, the consequences can be devastating, particularly if the crime they are linked to is very serious, such as losing their employment or relationships breaking down, as well as general humiliation and embarrassment in their communities.

If your photo has been used in an article that you have no connection with, then you may be able to bring a claim for defamation of character against the publisher of the newspaper or magazine.

Defamation of character arises when a statement is published that has caused or is likely to cause serious harm to the reputation of the claimant. The definition of ‘statement’ has been found to include photographs and therefore you can potentially bring a claim for libel against a newspaper, if they publish a photo of you with incorrect and harmful information.

If you or someone you know has had their photo misused in an article and has suffered serious harm to their reputation, we can help. We have acted for many clients who have been wrongly identified in both local and national newspapers and have recovered substantial damages and legal costs for them.

We will act quickly to ensure that the photo is removed from the article, an apology is published, and damages and losses are paid to compensate you for the serious harm caused to your reputation.

Contact us today to find out how we can help.