June 19, 2006

YON v HFM: Update

Via the Compass Points Blog:

Hachette Job
Michael Yon's ongoing battle with the snail-eaters at HFM (Hachette Filipacchi Media), publishers of the despicable SHOCK magazine got a write up in the NY POST this morning. Keith Kelly's article tilts a bit towards the puffery of Hachette, but still makes clear that one man seeking justice can have a powerful impact on Big Media.
Someone called Jack Kliger whines that people are sending HFM "scripted" emails, and that the campaign in support of Michael Yon--and against HFM's theft of his work--is undertaken by people who are "not readers, they're followers." Mr. Kliger says that if Yon's "intent was to restrict our distribution and censor what we are doing, he has not been successful."

Interesting, if true. Yet in the paragraph just before that bit of corporatese, Mr. Kelly writes:

Now Hachette Filipacchi Media is taking the unusual step of trying to reach out to major retail sellers and distributors to get them to resume distributing the magazine, claiming the magazine has fallen victim to a censorship campaign by the angry blogger/photographer. [Emphasis is mine.]

Sounds as though Michael is, in fact, succeeding. Retailers have refused to carry the rag, although how Kliger or Kelly can construe this as censorship is mystifying.

I couldn’t agree more Brad, this isn’t censorship its American’s doing what we do best, protecting our rights, as Michael Yon has repeatedly stated he owns the rights to the photo in question, it doesn’t matter if you are using the photo to promote his beliefs or yours, you are using the photo without his permission and that is illegal. End of story.

So everyone if you are on board, keep it up, and if you are standing there watching on the sidelines, its high time you get in the game!

No comments: