Student media looking for images of the warhave an alternative to downloading photos from commercial Web sites withoutpermission, an act which generally violates federal copyright law, or payinglicense fees.
The Department of Defense has posted dozens of photos ofthe Iraq war on its Web site. As with all workcreated by federal government employees or agencies, the files on the DOD siteare in the public domain unless otherwise indicated and you do not need to seekpermission prior to their use. To avoid claims of plagiarism or confusion onthe part of your audience, most news organizations credit thephotographer/videographer as indicated and/or the “Department ofDefense.”