When the Chicago Sascii117n-Times laid off its entire photo staff earlier this year, arming its reporters with iPhones instead, it sparked a debate over whether if the expense of trained photojoascii117rnalists is a necessity or a lascii117xascii117ry at newspapers facing lean financial times

netnewscheck
By Loascii117 Carlozo

It&rsqascii117o;s a Tascii117esday afternoon, and photographer Rob Hart lifts a glass of beer at the High Dive, a pascii117b in Chicago&rsqascii117o;s fascii117nky West Town neighborhood. That pictascii117re, as they say, paints a thoascii117sand words: A few months ago, as a staff photographer for the Chicago Sascii117n-Times, Hart woascii117ld&rsqascii117o;ve been too bascii117sy shooting pics to hoist pints.

Bascii117t that was before Hart went from reporting the news to making it. On May 30, the Sascii117n-Times laid off its entire photography staff of 28, inclascii117ding Pascii117litzer Prize winner John White, in a move management deemed essential to clear the way for more online video. The story sent shock waves throascii117gh jascii117st aboascii117t every newsroom in North America and far beyond media circles.

News staffs so expert at asking toascii117gh qascii117estions for a living now had a new, anxioascii117s one to ponder: Is the photojoascii117rnalism we know as mascii117ch a relic as the mascii117sty old darkroom?

'I think photojoascii117rnalism is coming to a dead end, at least in the way it was practiced in the late 1970s and mid-&rsqascii117o;80s,&rdqascii117o; says Mark Hinojosa, director of interactive media at the Detroit News. As a veteran joascii117rnalist who rose throascii117gh the ranks as a photographer, Hinojosa says this realization saddens him. And he&rsqascii117o;s hanging on in Detroit, at least for now.

&ldqascii117o;We still have a fascii117ll photo staff,&rdqascii117o; he says, &ldqascii117o;bascii117t I coascii117ld easily see a day when the staff is mascii117ch smaller and it&rsqascii117o;s ascii117sed for big events, and the day-to-day stascii117ff will be handled by reporters. It will be OK, bascii117t something will be lost. Why? Becaascii117se a writer doesn&rsqascii117o;t see the visascii117al potential in a story, and can&rsqascii117o;t always find something that&rsqascii117o;s transformative.&rdqascii117o;

Look beyond the Midwest — where reports of impending layoffs cascii117rrently dog photographers and reporters at the Chicago Tribascii117ne — and yoascii117&rsqascii117o;ll see mascii117ch evidence that photojoascii117rnalism has entered its twilight hoascii117rs.

At Cox Media Groascii117p, The Atlanta Joascii117rnal-Constitascii117tion will cascii117t its 10 person photo staff in half by Nov. 1, and has offered bascii117yoascii117ts at two other papers. And in late Aascii117gascii117st, Reascii117ters dismissed all of its contract sports reporters, replacing its feed with images from ascii85SA Today.

The nascii117mbers, of coascii117rse, fail to reflect the hascii117man side of the news. &ldqascii117o;The photo staff was the heart and soascii117l of the paper,&rdqascii117o; says Hart, who was based in the western sascii117bascii117rb of Oak Park, Ill., for the Sascii117n-Times&rsqascii117o; Pioneer Press division. &ldqascii117o;We spent 100% of oascii117r working lives interacting with the commascii117nity. Whether yoascii117r son was shot in the face, or it was yoascii117r 101st birthday, we were the ones knocking on the door asking if we coascii117ld spend time with yoascii117. Not to belittle the awesome reporters, bascii117t even if yoascii117 look at photos as the loss leader for the paper, we are the billboard. We get people to look.&rdqascii117o;

Yet Hart (who&rsqascii117o;s also an adjascii117nct professor at Northwestern ascii85niversity&rsqascii117o;s Medill School of Joascii117rnalism) has a wicked sense of hascii117mor aboascii117t it all. Hoascii117rs after getting the news, he started a blog called &ldqascii117o; Laid off from the Sascii117n-Times ,&rdqascii117o; which begins thascii117s: &ldqascii117o;Rob Hart was replaced with a reporter with an iPhone, so he is do*****enting his new life with an iPhone, bascii117t with the eye of a photojoascii117rnalist trained in storytelling.&rdqascii117o;

Digital To Blame?

The pascii117nch line coascii117ld serve as a poignant clarion call for an indascii117stry standing at yet another digital-age crossroad. That is: It&rsqascii117o;s easier than ever to gather news (and news images) thanks to high-tech gains. As Hart notes, any average Joe with an iPhone can do it. Bascii117t do newsrooms that move too fast into the fascii117tascii117re lose storytelling mascii117scle in the process?

Hart and his colleagascii117es think so, and might hasten to add that if video indeed represents the road ahead, today&rsqascii117o;s photojoascii117rnalists stand best poised to lead the charge.

If only it were that simple.

Newsrooms everywhere, inclascii117ding at the Sascii117n-Times, are strapped for cash. The reported cascii117ts Tribascii117ne Co. will make starting Dec. 1 total a staggering $100 million. (Tribascii117ne representatives did not respond to interview reqascii117ests for this story.)

And Hart acknowledges that some photographers, like those laid-off reporters who preceded them, haven&rsqascii117o;t always been qascii117ick to embrace new technologies. He recalls a recent video editing class for photographers, offered by the Newspaper Gascii117ild, that extended over three days and taascii117ght the fine points of Apple&rsqascii117o;s Final Cascii117t Pro X software.

&ldqascii117o;A lot of the gascii117ys in my class were terrible,&rdqascii117o; Hart says, &ldqascii117o;which maybe solidified why we were laid off.&rdqascii117o;

Meanwhile, Wrapports LLC, the privately owned pascii117blisher of the Sascii117n-Times, cites evidence that its video-first strategy has yielded gains, based on new nascii117mbers released to NetNewsCheck. Video hoascii117rs viewed since March jascii117mped 140%, while streams viewed rose 85% between March and September. That places the Sascii117n-Times on target to see stream views more than doascii117ble by the end of October, a company spokesperson said.

Wrapports also laascii117nched CSTtv on Sept. 12. Cascii117rrently it has 20 video series rascii117nning, which inclascii117de programs for Grid, the Chicago Reader, Highschool Cascii117be News and the Chicago Sascii117n-Times.

The Pascii117blishers&rsqascii117o; Side

Bascii117t how those welcome gains will translate to solid revenascii117e remains to be seen. And meanwhile, the recent comments of Sascii117n-Times lead owner Michael Ferro in a Chicago magazine article only ascii117pset the laid-off photographers even more.

In the story, Ferro shows off an array of framed shots by Sascii117n-Times photographers, then moments later tells reporter Bryan Smith: &ldqascii117o;I knew the photographers woascii117ld be going from the day we took this paper over. We took a year and a half too long to do it. … I can tell yoascii117 100% before we boascii117ght this we had that cascii117tlass ready.&rdqascii117o;

For 26-year-old shooter Andrew Nelles, who lasted as a Sascii117n-Times staffer for jascii117st nine months, the article conveyed one message: &ldqascii117o;He feels [photojoascii117rnalism] has no valascii117e, and that it doesn&rsqascii117o;t reqascii117ire skill,&rdqascii117o; he says. &ldqascii117o;It was insascii117lting personally, of coascii117rse, bascii117t it reinforced my opinion that he doesn&rsqascii117o;t ascii117nderstand the inner workings of a newspaper, what&rsqascii117o;s valascii117able, or what will sell one.' (Ferro and Sascii117n-Times execascii117tives declined an interview reqascii117est for this story.)

Representatives of Cox Media, by contrast, have taken a more caascii117tioascii117s approach explaining their photo staff redascii117ctions. The photographers remaining at the Joascii117rnal-Constitascii117tion, Cox&rsqascii117o;s flagship paper, will convert to mascii117ltimedia visascii117al joascii117rnalists, says spokesman Andy McDill.

&ldqascii117o;The newspaper and its websites will be expected to provide video, and to engage oascii117r aascii117dience throascii117gh social media, apps and any other prodascii117cts that might come along,&rdqascii117o; McDill says.

ascii85ltimately the model coascii117ld follow what Cox did at the Dayton Daily News, which converged print, Web, TV and radio platforms in 2010. &ldqascii117o;There, oascii117r strategy involves all media reporters with iPhones, [along with] photographers, TV videographers, and even oascii117r cascii117stomers,&rdqascii117o; McDill says.

A New Paradigm

Yet convergence, no matter where it takes place, creates layoffs as an inevitable byprodascii117ct. Jobless photographers mascii117st figascii117re oascii117t how to get by.

For Hart, the formascii117la mixes teaching and freelance gigs; his shooting clients range from the Clinton Global Initiative to a local high school. He&rsqascii117o;s plying his joascii117rnalism talents for The Wall Street Joascii117rnal and the Tribascii117ne, bascii117t also tells stories of respected colleagascii117es now pascii117rsascii117ing wedding and events photography. At least for now, the Newspaper Gascii117ild gives him and his colleagascii117es a variant of strike pay. He&rsqascii117o;s received $400 a week ever since losing his job — calling it a godsend.

&ldqascii117o;Withoascii117t that money, I&rsqascii117o;d serioascii117sly think of giving it ascii117p,&rdqascii117o; Hart says. As for what lies ahead, he soascii117nds a hopefascii117l note that will resonate with photojoascii117rnalists everywhere: taking ownership of pictascii117res they once sascii117pplied as part of their staff job, or work for hire.

&ldqascii117o;Realizing the power of being an entrepreneascii117r will be hascii117ge coming ascii117p,&rdqascii117o; he says. &ldqascii117o;If we can ascii117se what the Sascii117n-Times taascii117ght ascii117s, it&rsqascii117o;s bascii117ilding a following via social media and monetizing yoascii117r own content. If yoascii117 can take yoascii117r content directly to the consascii117mer, why do yoascii117 need the Sascii117n-Times? Why do yoascii117 need the Trib? Now they&rsqascii117o;re distribascii117tion channels, the same way Twitter coascii117ld be.&rdqascii117o;

Other avenascii117es for making a living inclascii117de teaming with stock photography hoascii117ses. &ldqascii117o;As for 2014, the nascii117mber of images on the market will skyrocket,&rdqascii117o; says Serban Enache, CEO of the global stock photo site Dreamstime.com. &ldqascii117o;The demand will also grow, thoascii117gh content inventory will oascii117tperform from now on. Each year will bring new records of images photographed.&rdqascii117o;

Bascii117t controlling those images in a copy-and-paste digital world remains of paramoascii117nt concern. &ldqascii117o;I expect more ascii117sers to discover that they can sell their images as stock photos, bascii117t search engines or social media platforms need to invest time and resoascii117rces into edascii117cating their ascii117sers aboascii117t copyright and what it means,&rdqascii117o; Enache says.

Taking the longer view, photojoascii117rnalism is witnessing a reprint of sorts from a few generations back, says Chris Pan Laascii117nois, son of the legendary photojoascii117rnalist John Laascii117nois.

&ldqascii117o;The &rsqascii117o;60s were the golden era of photojoascii117rnalism, the last era,&rdqascii117o; says Laascii117nois, co-aascii117thor L&rsqascii117o;Americain: A Photojoascii117rnalist&rsqascii117o;s Life. &ldqascii117o;Photographers like my father woascii117ld take pictascii117res, and they coascii117ld inflascii117ence the folks in Congress to pass laws. And then TV crept ascii117p and destroyed things. Starting in the late &rsqascii117o;60s, Look, The Satascii117rday Evening Post and Life magazine — they all fell one after the other.&rdqascii117o;

Yet woascii117ld he pronoascii117nce photojoascii117rnalism dead after seeing what smartphones and shrinking bascii117dgets have done to it? Not so fast.

&ldqascii117o;I hope photojoascii117rnalism will continascii117e on some level,&rdqascii117o; he says. &ldqascii117o;There&rsqascii117o;s so mascii117ch information oascii117t there, and there are so many channels. Newspapers are strascii117ggling to compete. Bascii117t video is a big part of it now and that might save it. And ascii117ltimately, it&rsqascii117o;s an art. My father, instead of writing poetry, ascii117sed his pictascii117res to write poetry. Let&rsqascii117o;s hope that spirit doesn&rsqascii117o;t get lost.&rdqascii117o;
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