Pixiq

Miami blogger Random Pixels has been one of the harshest critics of The Miami Herald but he has also been known to compliment them on occassion.

But only when it comes to certain reporters and photographers. When it comes to publisher Anders Gyllenhaal, Random Pixels, who is a photojournalist named Bill Cooke, has been relentless.

It got to the point where Gyllenhaal emailed the blogger on one occasion, asking him to stop emailing him his frequent criticisms of the Herald.

“Bill, Please be so kind as to take me off your email list. I make it a point to keep up with informed and responsible criticism of the paper, which is invaluable. I can see that’s not your interest when you find fault with virtually anything this dedicated, capable staff takes on. Anders”

So clearly, Random Pixels has been able to get under the skin of a man who you would hope would be able to brush it off.

On Tuesday, Random Pixels posted one of his positives posts complimenting a couple of Herald photographers with the respective photos they took.

The pictures, which I’ve reposted below, are definitely worth sharing. Especially the top one. One of those split-second moments of natural beauty.

On Wednesday, Suzanne Levinson, whose title is Director of Site Operations for the Miami Herald, sent Random Pixels the following in an email:

It has been brought to our attention that the web page located at http://randompixels.blogspot.com/2009/08/random-pixels-recognizes.html has content reproduced from The Miami Herald and MiamiHerald.com.

Please remove these photos and any other Miami Herald content present on your site immediately.
[...]
[We] do not allow reproduction of complete stories or full-sized photos.
[...]
Please reply with confirmation of action taken within 5 business days or this matter will be forwarded to the McClatchy Company’s legal department for further action.

It doesn’t appear that Levinson is familiar with photography because anyone can tell you that photos posted on the internet are low-resolution, meaning they are not “full-sized photos.”

Random Pixels has not removed the photos, citing “fair use” rights, which allows the reproduction of certain copyrighted material without obtaining permission for use in non-commercial manners.

While many bloggers, including me, cite fair use as they use another publication’s photographs (with credit, of course), it is still a gray area that has not been fully defined within our legal system, as far as I know.

But like many newspapers, the Herald is struggling to keep from drowning in debt, so we wonder if this is the most logical battle to pursue.

Joe Rimkus Jr./The Miami Herald