I’ve heard of waivers that need to be signed before a television show can broadcast your image. But I’ve often seen pictures of crowds in newspapers, in situations where it seems impossible to get a waiver signed by everyone.
A great example is today’s front page of The New York Times sports section. There is a picture of a Yankee outfielder dropping a ball, with about a dozen fans shown just above the wall. If one of these fans gets fired for calling out sick from work to attend a baseball game (like Elaine in the Seinfeld episode), can he or she sue the newspaper?
There is a difference between a legitimate news story (be it newspaper, magazine, television, etc), and a private, for profit venture.
For example, you could be an ordinary bystander to a police/fire event. The news cameras are all there taping it for later broadcast. Your image shows up in the broadcast. As long as the news folks do not imply you did anything nafarious in their story, you are out of luck. After all, you are in a public place and quite literally, another face in thr crowd. Now at that same event, if the Cops television show was also taping the event for their TV series, they would require your release to use your image on their program.
As for a public sports event, I suggest checking the small print on the reverse side of the ticket. Not only is the sports event a legitimate news event, but the disclaimer on the reverse of the ticket says your image can be used anywhere, without compensation. If you don’t like that, then don’t attend the event.
The consensus seems to be that if
[ol]
[li]The picture is taken in a public place, and[/li][li]It is used in an editorial context (not advertising or other profit-making activity)[/li][/ol]
a release is not required.