Getty Images CEO Jonathan Klein - Delusional, Deceptive, or a Liar?

Yesterday, Getty Images CEO Jonathan Klein was interviewed for almost four minutes about the Getty deal with the Olympics on CNBC. At about 2:28 into the interview, the issue of the Tiger Woods image made recently was raised (see link in 'Related' at end of article), and at approximately 2:47, Klein says "... we don't do paparazzi images..." and I about fell off my chair. In fact, when I read it over on Paul Melcher's Perception Management blog post, I couldn't believe it, I had to watch it myself, so, before I go any further, and to avoid and suggestions about taking something out of context, here's the video to watch for yourself:

(Continued after the Jump)

Now, let's just take one more precaution here, and get the definition of Paparazzi:

pa·pa·raz·zo (pä'pə-rät'sō)
n. pl. pa·pa·raz·zi (-sē)
A freelance photographer who doggedly pursues celebrities to take candid pictures for sale to magazines and newspapers.

(Source: Dictionary.com)

Ok, with that established, I'll encourage you to head over to Paul Melcher's blog (here) and look at several of his examples of paparazzi candid photography that Getty has. As we wrote here - Getty Images And Paparazzi Pictures (3/9/09), Getty's site is replete with images that are paparazzi images, celebrities captured in unguarded moments, intrusive actions by photographers to get "the picture", and so on. At right is a previous example of a paparazzi image that Getty Images had on their website - in other words, this image is proof positive that Getty Images is in the business of profiting from paparazzi images, whether or not they shot them, but their photographers do shoot them as well.

With all of this, the question about JDK's World and what increasingly seems to be some form of an altered reality arises. The proof is on his own website, so is Jonathan Klein just delusional because he doesn't peruse his own content? Or, is Jonathan Klein trying to deceive the public so they think that Getty Images is pure as the driven snow? Or, is Jonathan Klein telling a bold-faced lie with a straight face? Without knowing if he looks at his own content, which, arguably is in the tens of thousands of images in any given day, there is a fraction of a chance he doesn't know and thus, can't be lying, but then what does that say about his knowledge of the business he co-founded?

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Related:

• Getty Acknowledges Photo Setup With Tiger, 2/25/10
• GYI's JDK: "our core stock photography business has stopped growing, in fact, it's declining.", 9/20/07
• The Curious Case of Getty and Flickr, 7/11/08
• When Do The Musicians Abandon Ship?, 3/17/09
• Getty Images - Business Fantasy Update, 10/10/09

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