A screen capture shows 11th Ward Alderwoman Nicole Lee's unlicensed use of one of four McKinley Park News photos in her May 26, 2025, email newsletter.


Thanks to 11th Ward Alderwoman Nicole Lee and her staff for their prompt response to our objection to their unlicensed and unattributed use of our original news photography republished and distributed without notice or permission in her email newsletter sent May 26, 2025.

Lee's response includes an apology sent in her June 1, 2025, email newsletter about an "honest mistake" made by her staff about using our photos "without attribution."

Although we appreciate Lee's prompt acknowledgement and apology, we want to clarify that:

• The photos were not only used without "attribution," they were used without license or permission. The lack of this acknowledgement in the apology seems to indicate that Lee and the 11th Ward have such license, when they and others did and do not.
   
• In order to be republished and distributed as email attachments as they were, our photos had to be downloaded from our website -- the only place they were published -- saved to a local hard drive, uploaded to an email newsletter layout and sent out to subscribers. This was conducted by paid communications professionals lifting from our site, which contains a copyright notice on every page and clear Terms of Service prohibiting such use.

Regarding the first point, I think this is standard legal CYA, especially after some back-and-forth with Lee's lawyer, as admitting theft would also be admitting fault and harm. As for the second, if the 11th Ward staff lifting our photos didn't know it was stealing, they certainly should have.

Clearly, the 11th Ward and Nicole Lee need to do better for how they treat local news and small businesses. Despite their milquetoast response, we still appreciate its promptness, which we've almost always received from those who have used our photos without license. (The one exception is Neighbors for Environmental Justice's theft of our photography and ongoing harassment, conducted in collusion with its partner organization the McKinley Park Development Council .)