How do I get permission to reproduce newspaper images or articles from the British Newspaper Archive?

Reproducing in copyright newspaper images 

The majority of newspaper images published on the British Newspaper Archive are under copyright. This means that permission is required to reproduce these images in article, blog, book or video content, or for a purpose other than personal use.

A newspaper image is a digital copy of any publication page on the British Newspaper Archive. It is not limited to an illustration or photograph in the newspapers themselves and can incorporate the text of an article. Permission is needed to reproduce even a small part of a newspaper image.

How do I know if a newspaper image is under copyright? 

You can identify copyright details from the image viewer on the British Newspaper Archive. Simply select the ‘newspaper information’ icon at the top right-hand side of the image viewer. Here you will see the copyright information for the newspaper image you are viewing.

Newspaper images attributed to successive rightsholder unknown, public domain and creative commons are not under copyright.

You may notice two names appear in the copyright statement, for example, 'Image © Reach PLC. Image created courtesy of THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD,' or 'Image © Future Publishing Ltd, content provided by THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.'

In these instances, the copyright is held with the named publisher, not with the British Library. This is indicated by the copyright symbol beside the name of the publisher, e.g. © Reach PLC. As the British Library are not the copyright holders in these cases, the publisher named must be contacted in order to gain permission to reproduce such newspaper images.

If the newspaper information only gives the British Library as the source of the image, e.g. 'Content provided by THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED,' you can reproduce the image using the following statement and acknowledgement:

'content provided by THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. With thanks to the British Newspaper Archive (www.britishnewspaperarchive.com).' 

We understand that the statement may be subject to approval and editing.

How do I get permission to reproduce a newspaper image?

Having identified the copyright information for the newspaper image you would like permission to reproduce, you will need to contact the relevant copyright holder.

Below is a list of common copyright holders on the British Newspaper Archive and how to contact them. Please always let them know that you plan on reproducing the already digitised newspaper image found on the British Newspaper Archive. 

• British Library Board – please ensure that the image you are intending to use is not under copyright to another entity. You can do this by following the steps above. If the only credit is to the British Library Board, you can reproduce the image using the following statement and acknowledgement: 'content provided by THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. With thanks to the British Newspaper Archive (www.britishnewspaperarchive.com).' We understand that the statement may be subject to approval and editing. 
   
• Illustrated London News Group – queries to reproduce these images can be directed to our licensing partners the Mary Evans Picture Library. They can be contacted via their website.
   
• Reach PLC – queries to reproduce these images can be sent via the Mirrorpix website. 
   
• National World – these images can be licensed through the SWNS Picture desk. Please email [email protected], attaching any images you plan on reproducing.
   
• Mediahuis Ireland – please seek permission to reproduce these images via the Mediahuis Ireland website.
   
• DC Thomson - this permission is arranged through the DC Thomson Archives department. You can email them directly at [email protected]. 
   
• Irish Times Ltd - their images will require their permission to reproduce. You can find their contact information here.
   
• Future Publishing Ltd - please contact [email protected] for all reproduction queries. 
   
• Daily Mail & General Trust - permission is arranged through DMG media Licensing. You can find their contact information here.

If the copyright holder is not featured in the above list, please contact us. 

Reproducing successor rightsholder unknown images

You may notice that some newspapers are attributed as ‘successor rightsholder unknown.’ In these cases, we have done everything we can to identify the successor copyright holder, but we have been unable to. 

If you decide to reproduce newspaper images of this type, please be aware that should a copyright holder be identified in the future, you may be subject to licensing this content retroactively. 

When reproducing this content, please apply the following credit: ‘with thanks to the British Newspaper Archive.’

Reproducing public domain and creative commons images 

Furthermore, there are some newspaper images available on The Archive that are in the public domain or are published under creative commons. These images do not require permission to reproduce and can be found by filtering your results via the ‘free to view’ option. We again welcome the credit ‘with thanks to the British Newspaper Archive.’

Creating transcriptions from the British Newspaper Archive

Article text viewable on the British Newspaper Archive is under copyright and requires permission to reproduce. However, you are free to create your own transcriptions using the newspapers found in our collection.

Please do be aware that unsigned newspaper text goes out of copyright 70 calendar years after the year of the publication, whilst signed newspaper text goes out of copyright 70 calendar years after the death of the author. 

Accessing high-resolution images

High-resolution images can be downloaded directly from the British Newspaper Archive using the newspaper clipping tool. Simply choose to clip the entire newspaper page or a section of the newspaper page, and an option to download a high-resolution copy will appear. However, please ensure you have the requisite rights before reproducing such imagery.