Are we Media?

I found a photo I'd love to use for an article I'm writing. The AKC has a page of photos for media use only. Here's what they say.

Please note that photographs are for media use only and may not be sublicensed, sold or otherwise used for any purpose. In no event shall the photographs be used for any commercial, promotional, advertising or similar purpose.

How do we fit in here? Can I use it or no? I don't want to get into trouble. I just can't find this kind of photo anywhere else.

Regardless you can't use it for commercial purposes  ... I think the internet is classified as media, though.

I agree with Paul. I don't know what they mean by media use, but we might fall under commercial. Do we? We would on Zazzle, but what about using photos on an article we make money with?

I've always assumed we do fall under commercial as you're technically making money from using their picture.

Media is like newspapers and TV. They make money with their articles too, indirectly.  I'm just not sure where we fit on the spectrum.

Zazzle is definitely commercial. Wouldn't even think of using it there.

"Media" is the plural of "medium." A "medium" is a means of communication, or even "exchange." If you use a river to transport logs into the city, the river can be said to to be a medium.

More broadly, we generally use "Media" to mean all of the communications tools used by news organizations and even quasi-news organizations . . . all of the means of communications. That means that "the media" refers to newspapers, magazines, television, radio and even the Internet.

In this case I believe they mean any media that is non commercial in nature meaning no wizzley, nothing where you have any monetization surrounding the picture anywhere. I'd have to see the site or their tos to really nail down what their pure definition of media is- perhaps they mean only free to use if your in the news media scenario, i.e. for use in news reports or only for use in video production. The definition of media is highly ambiguous so it's very hard to nail down exactly what they mean- but again, look through their tos, ask in the forum of the site or email the site owner (use whois to find the number or email addy).

What site is it?

edit:

I took AKC and Google'd it, landing on the american kennel club (is this it?) this seems to have dog shows etc.. and that tells me that the media in question here is not the general media but the media surrounding the sites purpose i.e. if your a reporter doing a story on dog shows or a specific dog show they had, they could write the story and use the picture if they attribute the site- otherwise a normal joe wanting to use the picture in an article NOT RELATED to or specifically about their site and mission- it's not allowed. In other words only news, newspapers, magazines, and sites reporting about the site, event, specifically can use them- you can't put them on wizzley because they mention no commercial use or otherwise... So unless you have a press pass for the show sorry... 

Actually, I am writing about the AKC.

then you should contact them and ask if your story can use their image... if you link back to their site I'm sure they'd not mind :) and technically you are media if your writing about their site/organization...

I just found another discussion and it said not by private individuals. Only those associated with media organizations, so that means to me that if I worked for a newspaper I could use it, but not as a private person. That's what I'm thinking now.

Sigh, why is it so hard to find the "perfect picture" if you can't take it yourself....?

Jerrico is right: your potential permission is one inquiry away.  

Keep in mind those sites want to be syndicated just like you do- if you have a valid reason to use the picture and give them the resulting page it will be on to check it out, they will likely give you permission. Although you are private, you would be giving them good publicity and how can they say no to that? If not screw em- there are literally millions of pictures to choose from in the Public domain- pixabay is great but there are many more- Simon made a wizzle that listed them all so go take a look at that :)

Unfortunately, Pixabay does not have any good pictures of Border Collies. Or any of the other sites I sometimes resort to. Believe me, I would use them first if they were there.

I've run into problems asking permission to use photos, either I get no answer at all, or half an answer. Like which pictures do I want to use, and then no answer. I asked Pets of the Homeless for permission. Still no reply. You'd think they'd want their pictures up EVERYWHERE.

Have you tried Allposters? They have quite a few Border Collies:

http://www.allposters.com/gallery.asp?startat=%2Fgetthumb.asp&txtSearch=border+collie&CID=C1C75468D32A4E3FADA0E8FE61312F9A

Or, if they're still not right, consider buying a stock image. Personally, I found 123rf.com to have the most reasonable pricing. A web-resolution photo to illustrate an article costs less than $1. It might be worth it to save you time and frustration trying to score a free image somewhere.

They have over 2,000 image matches for "Border Collie":

http://www.123rf.com/search.php?word=border+collie&Submit=Search&t_word=&t_lang=en&imgtype=0

You are right. I sometimes forget about allposters. My bad. They sometimes have great prints to use.

I was looking for a picture of a SHOW border collie though.

Try this google search:

SHOW border collie public domain pictures

this is one result:

http://www.wpclipart.com/animals/dogs/B/Border_Collie.png.html

Sorry. I saw that. Pretty ugly.

This is what I was looking for and the only one I've found. Shhhhhh don't tell them I put it here.....

I was looking for an example of a show border collie to illustrate how they have been changed from the working dog.

That's a gorgeous dog photo. How about going to the next dog show that comes within travelling distance to you? It sounds like great fun and a great photo op at the same time. But you might need a model release from the dog owner in that case - OOF! why can't these things be easier!