This article seems to contain copyrighted artwork with no reference to permission obtained from the artist, simply a link to the source it was taken from, which is insufficient, both legally and morally.

It may be that the author has obtained the required rights, but simply not properly stated this.

However, Medium management have been at pains recently to remind those involved in the Boost programme that work containing images with no explicitly stated rights clearance will be rejected as 'it generates mistrust among users'.

Perfectly reasonable, but if that is the case, should Medium staff be promoting posts that clearly fail to abide by that same standard? Does such direct endorsement of poor copyright practice not also 'generate mistrust', and also suggest a degree of hypocrisy?

I notice that at least one of the current Staff Picks likewise contains an image with no credit or copyright reference.

This is an aspect that should be taken into account when deciding which articles to cite or feature in the platform's showcase sections, I feel.