Thing is, all the time people are queueing up to provide the local rag with pictures free of charge, it's going to undermine freelance photographers who make a living out of it.
Theft of photos happens a lot, and the papers know that at worst they'll get stung for a few quid per photo, if anything. Most of the cases I've known about or have been involved in (I've had photos stolen) have ended with a payment to the photographer concerned.
When this first happened to me, a fairly high profile journo said to me that it was my obligation to push a claim for payment, because if I didn't then freelance writers and photographers across the world would lose a little bit more ground.
Aside from that, newspapers write the most twisted, rubbish stories imaginable. Until you've been on the receiving end of such disgusting behaviour you can't begin to believe just how blatantly they lie. And I'm talking nationals just as much as locals. Consequently they can pay me or f'ck off.
Thanks for the link BTW.