Space Shuttle Photo Goes Viral, But Did Network Grab It Without Giving Credit?

Odds are, you saw the picture: shot from an aircraft window, a passenger, Stefanie Gordon, caught a perfect, brilliantly unique perspective of the liftoff of the space shuttle Endeavour on its final mission. In the picture, the shuttle’s contrail rising from a deck of clouds as the shuttle climbed toward space. Posted to the web, the photo went viral, and ended up on TV, including NBC Nightly News, which clearly credited the photographer in its story.

Anchor Brian Williams also wrote about the picture–and its photographer–in his pre-show blog, The Daily Nightly.

What’s that? You don’t know Stefanie Gordon? Hoboken’s own Stefanie Gordon? She played a great role in cellphone video history today while flying from New York to Palm Beach. The captain came on the PA and gave one of those “those of you on the right side of the aircraft…” announcements. Those announcements are usually about a “beautiful view of the City of Baltimore,” but not this time. This time, it was about the space shuttle piercing through the cloud deck on its way to space. There’s video and stills, but we have Stefanie to thank. She woke up and started shooting the towering vapor trail, as cool as any sight imaginable from a seat in a plane. While she’s using her new-found fame to score a job–kudos from here on earth for a job well done. Stefanie: Where you gonna be for re-entry?

The shout-out from BriWi was a hit with Gordon, but later she used her Twitter account to call out ABC News, claiming World News used her pic, but never gave her credit:



A case of a photo gone so viral everybody just grabs it? Not so, says ABC News. The network, through a spokesman, says Stefanie Gordon–as great as her stuff was–was not the only one who saw the stunning sight and decided to snap a pic. ABC says it did reach out to Gordon, but ultimately used a different photographer’s picture once the network determined the alternate photo was of higher quality for broadcast.

Watch the Nightly version–with Gordon’s photo–here, from NBC News:

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