Business is economics, alot of people seem to have noticed that its less about the quality in some cases and more about the £££.
So free wins hands down. The fact theres ALOT of people giving work away free is causing quite a few issues, which is why people get so upset about it.
How is it competition when you have a job, which pays you so you can care for your family etc and so can afford to give work away free, they cant afford to do that as their life depends on photography.
Think about the bigger picture and you will understand why some people get irate about it.
You have multiple organisations, multiple people offering photos for free, it doesnt take many people to water down the earning potential of say a photographer for rock magazines for example.
At least by charging you are showing that they cant get work for free, and so HAVE to pay photographers for work, offering it free immediately shoots alot of people in the foot.
There will allways be situations when they will need the best pics possible, but ive noticed it quite alot that economics seem to take president over img quality.