Chicago Sun Times lays off its entire photo staff

According to multiple reports, including Romenesko and Chicago Sun Times, the 20-person staff is all gone. Another blow to the foundation of newspapers, although I can't say I'm surprised. Actually I am surprised. That it took a prominent newspaper this long to make a move like this. Who needs photographers when reporters have an iPhone
camera?

http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/breaking/chi-chicago-sun-times-photo-20130530,0,4361142.story

 

I will soon post a thousand words to illustrate my reaction.

For now, here's one: Wow.

 

Also, one would think AP covers almost every non-preps event that the paper covers.

Sad to say, I think a lot of papers will be following suit.

 

Yeah, our shop dumped both full-time photographers a couple years ago. They handed me a camera (I have the busiest beat) and told me to shoot my own photos. We produce six editions of four papers each week in our office and have no full-time shooters. That's JRC, or whatever the bleep it is now, for you.

 

Using that logic, if AP is shooting it, it's also probably staffing it with a reporter, so why does the Sun Times need a reporter? (I don't agree, I'm just sayin'). Sure, AP can bail out sports for photo in many instances, but what about the rest of the paper? AP isn't on the ground for many of local news events making up the bulk of a daily newspaper. I guess the amateur photos from PR handouts and reporters' iPhones are good enough.

 

The Sun Times story says it will use freelance photogs. So it seems they're dumping compensation packages as much as salary.

 

Would love to be an FLSA compliance lawyer in Chicago in about a year.

 

I think that logic is already being used at a lot of papers, just maybe not on the biggest beats. I know a lot of places that in the last 10 years have gone from staffing every game of a team home and away to using wire copy.

The first paper where I worked had a pretty hardline rule that it would almost never put a wire story on the cover of the sports section. The most common exception were deaths, usually ones that came across the wire after 10 p.m. For things like the Heisman Trophy, they would put a photo and a chart out front, but put the story inside.

The last time I was in town there, the entire front was wire copy.

 

If they're firing all the photogs, then waiting to hire them as freelancers without benefits, steady hours, etc., that has to be a labor law violation of some sort, right?

Or are print journalists nearing the level of migrant farm workers?

 

Isn't the Sun-Times still a Guild paper?

 

At least below the level of Walmart workers at some papers.

 

How would it be a labor law violation, if someone with knowledge of how that works can explain.