Society
Photo 'plagiarism' causes chaos
By Hu Yongqi (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-01-23 09:53
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Photographer resigns board in protest, calls for probe into contest
The China Photographers' Association (CPA) is under mounting pressure to launch an independent investigation into an alleged plagiarism scandal.
Shi Baoxiu, vice president of the Shaanxi Photographers' Association, resigned from his position in the CPA to protest the "half-hearted probe" into four Golden Mendel Award winning photographs, which were allegedly plagiarized.
Shi has made an online statement, saying he is disappointed with the CPA's reason to revoke the Golden Mendel Award from Sang Yuzhu, former vice-president of the Jilin Artists' Association.
Earlier this month, four scenic photos that won Sang the prestigious award were reported to have been plagiarized. On Jan 11, the CPA said that Sang's pictures were the result of a joint collaboration between Sang and two other photographers from Jilin.
Sang did not comply with the rules of the award, the CPA said.
"Sang is guilty of plagiarism, as experts have denied the possibility of joint creation of photos," Wang Wenlan, vice president of the CPA, told China Daily on Friday.
Earlier, the CPA said in an internal document that the criticism over its probe into the scandal was an attempt to attack the association and the cultural policies of China.
"I can't bear that the CPA is running away from its responsibilities So, I quit," Shi said on his blog on Wednesday.
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The Golden Mendel Award, given away every two years, is the highest award for China's photographers since 1988. About 332 photographers attended last year's awards and 12 of them won.
In April 2007, the winner of the first International News Photo Award in China was suspected of using Photoshop to add pigeons to his photograph.
Now, the debate is over the flaws of the current assessment system to appraise high-quality photos and other works of arts, Liu Lei, president of China Art Photographers' Association, said.
Wang Wenlan said the board members who judge the award winners must be respected photographers and their ways of judging should be transparent.
A supervising system shall be established to ensure operations abide by laws and regulations, he said.
Experts suggested an independent investigation team, consisting of supervisors and judiciary departments, even media, be established to probe into the latest incident.
But the investigation, Wang said, is under way but refused to disclose any details.
He Yanguang, photograph director of China Youth Daily, said the CPA has become a club for top officials who often do not have time to take photos and buy pictures for their personal albums and exhibitions.
An anonymous source was quoted by Oriental Outlook as saying: "Some participants bribed the judges to win the award."
