Two days ago, the Victoria News, in British Columbia, published this:
The page was taken down the next day, just minutes after news radio station CKNW asked the newspaper for comment.
It’s bad enough to lay off news photographers, which many newspapers are doing these days. In fact, the Victoria News laid off its very experienced staff photographer last year. But it’s sheer stupidity when a large, international, for-profit company asks people to work for free.
The Victoria News is owned by Black Press which publishes over 170 titles in Canada and the USA. The 40-year-old company states, “We invest in relevant journalism that affects the communities we serve.”
Is this company lying? If it’s not lying, then surely it would invest in a photojournalist to cover the relevant journalism on the weekends (and the rest of the week, too).
Having “volunteers” produce news pictures makes a newspaper liable for various ethical, journalistic and legal issues. Obviously the Victoria News never thought this through.
The company would never ask for “volunteer” accountants, lawyers, publishers, editors, reporters, pressmen or delivery people. The paper must have no idea of what a news photographer does.
To further show how out of touch the Victoria News is, the guy in the picture (which has a wrong photo credit) is using an old film camera from 1973. Since the photo is just a cheap stock picture from Getty, why not select a photo with a digital camera from this century? Maybe the newspaper doesn’t know the difference between a film camera and a digital camera?
A few days ago, the National Press Photographers Association released its study showing the value of professional photojournalism. Obviously the Victoria News wasn’t paying attention.
All of this doesn’t apply to only newspapers. Every business that needs commercial or corporate photography should think twice before getting an amateur to produce the pictures.
If you think it’s expensive to hire a professional to do the job, wait until you hire an amateur.
– Paul “Red” Adair
