By Dominic Ponsford
The
Daily Telegraph scooped an exclusive picture of the world’s first
facetransplant patient after her family insisted that the picture went
to a broadsheet.
The photograph of Frenchwoman Isabelle Dinoire was bought by the
Telegraph for what is understood to be a “substantial” sum of money –
but for much less than could have been paid by one of the tabloids.
The
shot was taken as surgeons in France completed a 15-hour operation to
replace Dinoire’s chin, lips and nose, which had been destroyed after
she was mauled by a dog.
Telegraph deputy picture editor Peter
Floyd said: “There were a few popular papers wanting the picture, but
we got a call at 5.15pm on Friday night to say that they wanted the
picture to go to a broadsheet.”
According to the agency, Corbis,
which sold the photograph, both the patient’s family and the hospital
were determined that the picture should go to a broadsheet.
Acting
editor John Bryant was running the backbench subbing operation of
Saturday’s paper and gave the OK for the picture to be used across all
eight columns of the front page.
Bryant joined Telegraph Group as
editor-in-chief of both national titles a month ago and has been acting
editor of The Daily Telegraph since Martin Newland’s resignation three
weeks ago.
Before that he spent four years as consultant editor
of the Daily Mail and he has also been deputy editor of the Mail and
The Times.
Telegraph deputy editor Neil Darbyshire said: “When
you’ve got a picture like that you have to give it a big display and
you can still do that with a broadsheet page – that’s much harder with
a tabloid.”
The Sun is understood to be facing legal action from
lawyers for Corbis because it reproduced the photo from the Telegraph’s
front page in Monday’s edition without permission.
Sky News also
used the photo on Saturday, but it reproduced the whole Telegraph front
page, a practice which is acceptable under copyright law.
Email pged@pressgazette.co.uk to point out mistakes, provide story tips or send in a letter for publication on our "Letters Page" blog