I feel like their willingness to pay any sum implies that they know they should have had permission/agreement beforehand. I can't quickly find details about th

I feel like their willingness to pay any sum implies that they know they should have had permission/agreement beforehand. I can't quickly find details about the context of the photo's use. They might be out there, but if so they seem buried in legal briefs, from what I can tell. My ability to read such dense documents isn't great, unfortunately. I get too bored with it. Similarly, I'm not super knowledgeable of all the ins and outs of fair use (which I believe is what you were alluding to), but it seems fairly nuanced and does not seem to give news organizations a blanket exemption.