Chicago Sun-Times Lays Off All Its Full-Time Photographers & Now They Are At BreakingVoices.com

By BreakingVoices CEO

 

 

 

 

The Chicago Sun-Times has laid off its entire photography staff, including a Pulitzer Prize-winning Sun-Times photographer John H. White. “It’s sad,” said Mr. Buyansky, speaking from the Billy Goat Tavern, a longtime watering hole for Chicago journalists. “The Sun-Times had an amazing photo staff.” Thirty laid off Chicago Sun-Times photographers and their supporters demonstrated in front of the newspaper's building Thursday morning, exactly one week after learning they were losing their jobs.

The move resulted from a need to shift toward more online video and plans to use freelance photographers and reporters to shoot photos and video going forward, the newspaper said.

A total of 28 full-time staffers received the news Thursday morning at a meeting held at the Sun-Times offices in Chicago, according to sources familiar with the situation. The layoffs are effective immediately.
 

The Sun-Times’ statement:

The Sun-Times business is changing rapidly and our audiences are consistently seeking more video content with their news. We have made great progress in meeting this demand and are focused on bolstering our reporting capabilities with video and other multimedia elements. The Chicago Sun-Times continues to evolve with our digitally savvy customers, and as a result, we have had to restructure the way we manage multimedia, including photography, across the network.

The company is also preparing to supplement its freelance staff with reporters to shoot more video and photos, according to sources. Sun-Times Media released a statement Thursday to The Associated Press confirming the move: “Today, The Chicago Sun-Times has had to make the very difficult decision to eliminate the position of full-time photographer, as part of a multimedia staffing restructure.” The statement noted that the “business is changing rapidly” and audiences are “seeking more video content with their news.”

 

Entire Sun-Times photo staff laid off. One staffer's wife opens her big mouth and says..."congratulations." http://t.co/lhkSOSFWGL

— Erika Enigk Grotto (@Bewarika) May 31, 2013

 

Like most major newspapers, The Sun-Times, which was bought by the investment company Wrapports in 2011, has been hit hard by the technological shift that has cause more people to rely on their personal computers and mobile devices to stay informed. As more readers have embraced digital alternatives, so have advertisers in a move that has been steadily siphoning away newspaper publishers’ biggest source of revenue.

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The Chicago Sun-Times ended September 2012 with a paid circulation of 263,292, according to the most recent statement filed with the Alliance for Audited Media. That contrasted with circulation of about 341,448 at the same time in 2006. Including satellite editions that operate under other names, the Sun-Times' circulation totaled 432,451 in September 2012.

While it is most certainly true that newer iPhone devices have vastly improved camera technology over former models, the ISO, Aperature, flash, and other settings are hardly DSLR quality, and the devices simply can’t take pictures from far distances with superior quality. Talking about the idea of replacing professional photographers with iPhone-wielding journalists, professional photographer Alex Garcia calls the idea ”idiotic at worst, hopelessly uninformed at best.”