[Leica] Chicago Sun Times

[lrzeitlin at gmail.com (Lawrence Zeitlin)]

Jon Stanton writes:

"Any thoughts about Chicago's "Oldest" Newspaper firing all 28 of their
photographers and then training their reporters to use iPhone 5's as their
cameras?"

I can't comment on the personal issues for photographers since my "last
hands" on experience as a newspaper photographer was over 50 years ago.
However technologically speaking the change is long overdue. In my day we
used 4x5 Speed Graphics, extreme overkill for pictures published with a 65
dpi screen. Leicas or even Minoxes would have sufficed. Reporters had to
specifically ask for a photographer to accompany them on assignments. Two
people, two salaries for a measly one column report on a ward alderman
political rally. Several years ago my son-in-laws TV station (WTNH in New
Haven, Ct.) issued iPhones to all it's on air staff. The reporters carried
the iPhone with them, a necessity to communicate with the office, and
photographed anything remotely interesting, sending it back along with
their verbal comments immediately. It worked. The station became known for
its excellent coverage of local news. Most of the staff photographers were
let go.

It is hard for members of the LUG to realize that picture quality is only
of minor importance in newspaper work. Immediacy is all important. It is
much better to get a bad picture today than a great one tomorrow. In a
fight for survival against TV, cable, and the internet a newspaper that
equips every reporter with iPhones scores two major points. It
substantially lowers costs and it gets many more camera eyes in the field.
Picture quality suffers but few readers give a damn as long as they get the
baseball scores and the horse racing odds.

It's the same problem faced by the typesetters many years ago. I can still
operate a Linotype. Does anyone care?

Where was the union in all of this?

Larry Z