I read recently that the Chicago Sun-Times recently eliminated its entire photography department, dismissing 28 full-time employees in the process. I have mixed reactions to this piece of news. I feel for the 28 people who were laid off, having gone through that myself. It is a hard road to walk.
I’m also disappointed at the attitude of the newspaper’s management that they can simply retrain reporters and make them photo-reporters, a category the management has just invented. The two jobs have different skill sets. Seeing a compelling image and bringing it back to a photo editor is different from writing about the event. The management has shown a clear lack of appreciation for the skill that photographers have and the value they bring to a news gathering organization.
There are a few reporters who have the ability to take compelling pictures and a few photographers who write well — but the two skill sets are generally different. Further, even if someone can do both, it’s hard to do both simultaneously and well and productively all at once. The idea that reporters can cover an event and take compelling pictures and transmit both back to an editor is laughable.
I would know. I started off my working life as a newspaper reporter and I’ve worked with dozens of highly talented photographers while covering a wide variety of events. Having a second person at an event has immense value. We generally worked as a team and a good photographer would hear and see more than I could ever get by myself. Further, I’ve seen dozens of images sent back to a newsroom that I could not have done myself. I think this is a limitation that fits news-gathering organizations anywhere. At best, you can do one job well or both jobs poorly. It would appear management has chosen mediocrity in an attempt to survive.
On the other hand, I fully understand the pressure the newspaper industry has been in over the last decade with the rise of alternative publications that distribute digitally and with the nature of social media itself, both of which have led to dramatic shifts in how people consume and produce the events that seem relevant to them. Newspapers are an inherently inefficient way of distributing information, including images. No one knows for sure what will happen to the newspaper industry. More than likely, it will simply morph into some hybrid of what it once was. I wish both the newspaper and the unemployed photojournalists my sincere best wishes in their attempt to adapt to a changing world.