Editorial policy
The purpose of this document is to outline the principles, practices and policies Getty Images Editorial upholds in delivering the highest standards of editorial integrity to our customers. As an editorial content provider, we recognize, respect and adhere to the ethical conduct acknowledged by both our industry and our peers. Getty Images strives to achieve and support the high standards in photojournalism today through good judgment and a commitment to our editorial principles, practices and process.
Our Principles
We adhere to a common set of professional journalistic principles that guide our staff, our processes and our operations. We maintain an individual and collective responsibility to uphold these principles throughout our news organization.
Responsibility
We believe that photographs are the visual communication of a story and should be held to an equal level of accountability, responsibility and integrity as the written word in journalism. Images illustrate and reflect the events of our world today and therefore have a responsibility to be delivered to the customer with accuracy and impartiality.
Independence
Only our editorial staff will have control over the photojournalism process -- from assignment to delivery. At no time do we permit non-editorial individuals or groups to have influence over our editorial coverage or workflow. Our editorial coverage is free of obligation and has no conflict of interest in its creation or production process.
Integrity
Integrity is the driving force behind all that we do and it is a founding principle of Getty Images’ organization. We maintain the balance of an individual's right to privacy with our obligation to cover the story. Our commitment to integrity is reflected throughout our editorial workflow and our fair and unbiased coverage of the events and stories of today.
Our Practices
We have instituted clear and non-ambiguous practices to uphold our core principles. These practices comprise our code of conduct that is expected of all levels of editorial staff, photographers, contributors and partners of Getty Images.
1. Getty Images’ photographers and staff maintain complete control over the gathering and distribution of editorial photos.
2. Getty Images will not accept special editorial access or privileges by virtue of Getty Images’ commercial relationships.
3. No photojournalist or editorial staff member will operate in a self-serving manner. No staff member shall let their personal opinions influence the coverage of stories or events, nor shall a third party be allowed to dictate or influence our editorial process.
4. We will never censor our editorial coverage.
5. All images will be credited to reflect the source. See photo credit details below.
6. Post-editorial licensing of photos will be in accordance with news-industry standards.
Credit: Getty Images
All images captioned with a credit 'Getty Images' are the product of Getty Images' complete editorial control.
Credit: (News Service)/Getty Images
This credit is based on the long-standing wire service tradition of sharing the editorial process between established news organizations. This credit would only apply when the news service is a well-known and established party that already has an established reputation for following strict editorial procedures that are equivalent to the five key editorial steps followed by Getty Images.
An example of this credit could include 'CNN/Getty Images' where the first named party is the verified editorial source of the news material and the second party is responsible for delivering the content to their respective news distribution service. In some cases this credit could appear as 'Getty Images/(News Service)'. This credit indicates that Getty Images is the originating party for news coverage and the news service is the distributing party.
Credit: Getty Images for (Editorial Publication)
This credit is used when Getty Images provides photo assignment services to editorial organizations such as The New York Times, Newsweek or Time Magazine.
Credit: (Outside Source) via Getty Images
This credit conforms to a long-standing wire service tradition of providing access to 'handout' materials as a service to editorial clients. Following the generally accepted industry standards, these photos must be from a known source and should be relevant to the overall mission of the wire service.
Examples of valid outside sources include:
- Government handouts -- NASA, White House Photos, DOD
- Movie stills -- Universal Pictures, TimeWarner
- Sporting event coverage -- Photo organizations of sports leagues (NBA Entertainment)
- Television screenshots -- From local market or national broadcast news media
- Newsworthy content from verified third-party sources
Handout Images
Following the established wire service tradition for moving handouts on the wire, all handout images should be considered supplemental coverage where a Getty Images photographer is not already available to supply photos, or where the content is provided by a third party that may retain their own rights to non-editorial uses of the images.
