Those photos on MySpace, Facebook, etc? They aren't public domain.
If you're really a journalist and are really using photographs taken from MySpace, Facebook, etc, you're putting the companies you write for at risk of a lawsuit if you use those photographs without permission.

If you read the terms of service of most social networking sites, you'll find that uploading pictures to them works very much like a model release - the uploader gives the rights to reuse, edit, etc, the image to the owners of the site - if memory serves, Facebook's boilerplate upload agreement also gives them the right to use your images in advertising for Facebook and it's partners - not any journalists that happen to be passing through. The images are explicitly copyrighted to the photographer and, depending on the boilerplate, the site they're uploaded to. Not you.

Personal information, however? If it's in the public eye, copy away.

All of this has a big 'if you're in the UK' tag attached, I don't know how it works anywhere else. I am not a solicitor and I am definitely not your solicitor, this is not legal advice, etc.
( Shegetz Chris Kamara's comedy moustache, Fri 12 Sep 2008, 3:08, Reply)