On 21/11/06, David Gerard <dgerard(a)gmail.com> wrote:
Yes. The reason Wikipedia is full of NASA and CIA
World Factbook
images is because those resources are public domain. That's not
US-centrism - it's using images because they are free content. If
there's a problem with not enough ESA images, it's up to the ESA to
fix that; somehow NASA has survived.
I understand this is pretty much what Anthere said to a group of
French government figures - if you want to compete with the flood of
US imagery, make it just as available.
Mmm. You want a startling demonstration of the effect? Look at our
articles on major humanitarian relief operations. US medics, equipment
and supplies flown in by US helicopters from US carriers and US
airbases... a reader would be forgiven for wondering if France or
Germany ever goes anywhere. It's not a deliberate propaganda move -
it's just that there's a lot of good people with cameras alongside the
planes and helicopters and trucks, making photos of everything... and
releasing them with no conditions.
--
- Andrew Gray
andrew.gray(a)dunelm.org.uk