newspaper

Los Angeles Times layoffs

The L.A. Times Lays Off At Least 115 Newsroom Staffers

The Los Angeles Times reports that it has begun laying off employees on Tuesday, with at least 115 newsroom staff slated to be let go. The cuts amount to more than 20% of the newsroom, which comprises writers, photographers, and other vital positions.

Wirephoto history video

How Photographs Were Transmitted by Wire in 1937

An old video published by Charlie Dean Archives on YouTube shows a dramatization of how photographs were captured in the field and transmitted by wire in the 1930s, fueling fast-paced news decades before the internet was even an idea, let alone the global communications network it is today.

NY Daily News Cuts All Photographers

The New York Daily News slashed its editorial staff in half this week, and among the casualties of the layoffs was the entire team of photographers. The paper, which called itself "New York's Picture Newspaper" for over 70 years, now has zero staff photographers.

What Newspaper Photojournalists Get to Shoot in the Course of a Month

My name is Robin Roots and I'm a photojournalist for Õhtuleht, one of the largest newspapers in the small country of Estonia. Our team of five photographers has to write down every trip we do with a company car. I was looking over our trips from last month and thought that perhaps others would like to know what we newspaper photojournalists do on a daily basis.

News Corp to Axe Most Photography Jobs in Australia

Sad news in the photo industry today: Australia's biggest newspaper company, News Corp, has announced that it will be gutting its photography departments at newspapers across the country, axing most of its staff photographer and subeditor positions in an effort to cut costs.

The Anatomy of a Newspaper Feature Portrait Shoot

I had a great opportunity to do a “behind the scenes” of a recent portrait feature shoot which my very good friend Daniel Hambury was doing for the London Evening Standard. In fact I was mainly assisting, but couldn’t pass up the opportunity to document what happens as it’s something I’ve always been intensely interested in.

Casual Photographers Were ‘Stealing’ Work from Pros Back in 1887

Professional photographers sometimes gripe about how casual shooters undercut their businesses by offering (often) lesser quality work for pennies on the dollar. But it's not something that was brought on by cheap and accessible digital cameras -- this "problem" has been around from the early days of photography.

This Was the Toronto Sun Photo Department in 1983

Want to see what it was like to work as a photographer at a major newspaper back in 1983? Check out this blast from the past: it's a 20-minute video by photographer Hugh Wesley, who spent 28 years at the Toronto Sun before retiring as the director of photography in 2001.

Newspaper Sends Cartoonist to Foo Fighters Concert to Protest Photo Contract

The Washington City Paper recently decided to boycott the Foo Fighters' restrictive concert photo contract by buying photos from fans instead. Now a different paper is protesting that same contract in a much different way.

This past weekend, the Quebec newspaper Le Soleil decided to send a cartoon sketch artist to cover a Foo Fighters' concert instead of putting a photographer in the media area.

Jewish Newspaper Photoshops Female Leaders Out of Charlie Hebdo March Photo

Millions of people -- including many world leaders -- took to the streets of France this past weekend to show solidarity in the aftermath of the Charlie Hebdo terrorist attack. The gathering in Paris, the largest in the history of France, made the front pages of major newspapers around the world.

One ultra-orthodox Jewish newspaper decided to cover the story a little differently, though: it's front page photo was a manipulated one that left out female world leaders.

Guardian Writer Says Newspaper Photogs are Like 19th Century Weavers, Redundant

Yesterday we featured a far too common headline that went something like "*insert newspaper here* fires all photographers." This time, it was an entire chain of local UK papers, and like the Chicago Sun Times before it, the chain is planning to replace these pros with freelancers, submitted photos and reporters with smartphones.

These kinds of headlines and stories make us sad, because we believe that the newspapers are making a grave mistake in undervaluing photography and the professionals who call it their vocation, but one Guardian writer has caused an uproar by holding to the exact opposite opinion.

French Paper Publishes Photo-less Issue to Stress the Importance of Photojournalism

French newspaper Libération is about to score huge brownie points with photographers the world over. At a time when newspaper photography jobs are disappearing and some newspapers are replacing professional photojournalists with iPhone toting writers, Libération is removed all photos from one of its issue as a show of support for photographers.

Newspaper Chain in Georgia Shutters Its Photo Department, Lays Off Photogs

Less than two months after the Chicago Sun-Times closed up its photo department and disbanded its staff photography team, a newspaper chain in Georgia has done the same.

Southern Community Newspapers Inc. (SCNI), a chain of seven Georgian newspapers (five dailies and two weeklies), is completely shutting down its photo department and putting photo-making responsibilities in the hands of its reporters.

Chicago Tribune and Sun-Times Covers After the Stanley Cup Finals

After the Chicago Sun-Times laid off its entire staff of photographers at the end of last month, the newspaper's editor sent out a memo stating that employees would be trained in using their smartphones to contribute photography ("iPhone photography basics," it was called).

We may be starting to see the negative effects of having an army of staff iPhoneographers rather than photojournalists. The side-by-side comparison above shows what the Chicago Tribune and Chicago Sun-Times newspaper covers looked like on June 26th, 2013, two days after the Stanley Cup finals.

Reno Newspaper Photographer Cleared of Charges After Covering Fire

Prosecutors in Reno, Nevada, have dropped charges against a newspaper photographer arrested and injured while trying to cover a house fire last year.

Tim Dunn, photo director at the Reno Gazette-Journal was taking photos and video at a four-alarm fire on June 18. 2012, when Washoe Count Sheriff's deputies told him to clear out. Dunn says the deputies then shoved him to ground and pushed his face into the gravel. He later showed facial injuries he said were caused by the rough treatment.

Photog Accuses Le Monde of Trashing 27 Years of Work Without Notice

Argentinian photographer Daniel Mordzinski, know for his work photographing literary giants, is accusing famous French newspaper Le Monde of trashing 27 years of his work without warning. Boxes worth of negatives and slides were allegedly thrown away when the photographer's office at the newspaper was cleaned out without notice earlier this month.

How I Confronted a Newspaper and Got Paid as a Result

Not too long ago, I was approached by a newspaper (Journal Le Droit, a large daily newspaper distributing print in the Ottawa-Hull area) asking if I would allow them to print a few of my pictures in an upcoming special feature on a nearby town, Rockland, Ontario. Having photographed much of Rockland in the past three years, I gladly accepted and figured that I could somewhat benefit from some exposure.

Just to make sure, I asked if they were offering monetary compensation. They responded that a photo-credit would be placed at the bottom of the image in lieu of payment. Why not?

Newspaper Agrees to Pay Woman $400 After Sparking Debate Over Fair Use

The Portland Press Herald has agreed to fork over $400 to a woman named Audrey Ann Slade after its use of one of Slade's photos sparked a furious fair use debate online. The paper published a story last week about Reverend Robert Carlson, a minister who committed suicide recently after being accused of abusing young boys. Specifically, the piece reported on the fact that Slade's photos proved that Carlson continued to engage in on-campus events after resigning abruptly in 2006 from his position as chaplain.

Soccer Club Bans Photographers, Newspaper Uses Cartoonist Instead

English soccer (football) club Southampton F.C. revealed a plan last week to deny press accreditation for photojournalists this season, and instead to force publications to purchase photographs from a single approved source, a photo agency called The Digital South.

Needless to say, this didn't go over well with newspapers, and one in particular -- The Plymouth Herald -- came up with a creative way to protest the decision. Rather than purchase approved photographs, they commissioned city historian Chris Robinson to cover a recent match with Argyle using cartoons (reminds us of a criminal trial).