SI did this some thirty years ago. They fired all their regular
photographer. Then they asked them if they wanted to work on an assignment basis
at half the pay or less.
In a message dated 7/19/2013 7:17:28 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time,
palcewski@xxxxxxxxx writes:
Can
Photojournalism Survive in the Instagram Era?
Renowned photography
theorist Fred Ritchin has a simple message for
those behind the camera:
Innovate or die.
In late May, the Chicago Sun-Times took the
unprecedented move of
gutting its photography department by laying off 28
full-time
employees, including John H. White, a 35-year veteran who had won
the
paper a Pulitzer. The nation's 8th largest newspaper figured it
could
cut costs by hiring freelancers and training reporters to shoot
iPhone
photos, to which Chicago Tribune photographer Alex Garcia
responded:
"I have never been in a newsroom where you could do someone
else's job
and also do yours well. Even when I shoot video and stills on
an
assignment, with the same camera, both tend to suffer. They
require
different ways of thinking."
The whole thing
here: http://bit.ly/16L5D5h
