-By Warner Todd Huston
In yet another example of the retrenching in the national media landscape, the Chicago Sun-Times has laid off its entire photography staff and plans to replace them with freelancers.
Chicago radio reports say that the Sun-Times intends to “focus on video” instead of still photography.
The Chicago Tribune reports that its rival laid off 20 full-time staffers and posted a statement from the Times
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.
Erika Enigk Grotto, the spouse of one laid-off Times photographer said that her husband was told that reporters will now be tasked with using their own cell phones to take photos to accompany articles.
The @suntimes laid off the company’s entire photo staff this morning. Reporters will be shooting with their phones. Solid business decision.
— Erika Enigk Grotto (@Bewarika) May 30, 2013
The Chicago Sun-Times has been cutting deep into its budget for some time.
In a strike of bitter irony, on the same day the paper announced it was firing all its photographers, the Sun-Times printed the obituary of its long-time chief photographer Bob Kotalik.
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“The only end of writing is to enable the reader better to enjoy life, or better to endure it.”
–Samuel Johnson
Warner Todd Huston is a Chicago based freelance writer. He has been writing opinion editorials and social criticism since early 2001 and before that he wrote articles on U.S. history for several small American magazines. His political columns are featured on many websites such as Andrew Breitbart’s BigGovernment.com, BigHollywood.com, and BigJournalism.com, as well as RightWingNews.com, RightPundits.com, CanadaFreePress.com, StoptheACLU.com, AmericanDaily.com, among many, many others. Mr. Huston is also endlessly amused that one of his articles formed the basis of an article in Germany’s Der Spiegel Magazine in 2008.
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