《芝加哥太阳报》淘汰摄影师真相

    太阳时报报业集团（Sun-Times Newspaper Group）裁掉整个摄影师团队（这些摄影师合计拥有大约500年左右的专业经验）的决定让所有人都在纳闷：究竟有什么能够证明此举的合理性。是为了破坏工会？是要从一个急剧衰落的行当中挤压利润？还是为了摆脱发霉的“传统媒体”形象，勇敢地迈入辉煌的数字化未来而进行的一种真正意义上（但看似没有什么章法）的尝试？又或者，它只是一种施虐狂症状？

    真正的原因可能涵盖了以上所有这些因素。这份报纸的高管们基本上保持着缄默，但他们的公开声明完全是以“奋进”为基调的。以下是这份声明的完整内容：

    《芝加哥太阳报》（Chicago Sun-Times）的业务正在迅速改变，我们的受众始终在寻求包含更多视频内容的新闻。我们在满足这种需求方面已取得了长足进步，而且正在全身心地致力于加强我们用视频和其他多媒体元素进行新闻报道的能力。《太阳报》将继续与精于数字技术的读者共同进化。因此，我们不得不在网络上重组了包括摄影在内的多媒体内容的管理方式。

    目前还不清楚，解雇整个摄影师团队究竟能从哪些方面帮助这家公司与“精于数字技术的读者”共同“进化”。除上述内容外，这家公司并未透露其他信息。但罗伯特•菲德今晨发布的一条微博让我们得以客观地看待这个事件。菲德是一位广受尊敬的媒体记者，在《太阳报》效力了长达28年之久，直至2008年下岗（更正：菲德实际上是自愿买断了工龄）。他在这条微博中写道：“报社的全部摄影记者被解雇后，《太阳报》的记者们今天开始参加关于‘iPhone手机摄影基础知识’的强制性培训。”

    一些科技专家和咨询师不分青红皂白地贬低任何被视为“旧媒体”的事物，而且同样不加选择地支持任何被视为“新媒体”的事物。在这些人的协助和教唆下，许多报纸刻意将自己唯利是图的措施描绘成为对某种“奋进”战略的坚守。新奥尔良《皮卡尤恩时报》（Times-Picayune）就是一个最新例证（到目前为止，这项战略产生了怎样的效果？不那么好）。高管们自己或许在一定程度上真的相信这种战略——合理化，是一项商学院并未传授（至少没有明确传授），但非常有用的技能。报业是一个深得公众信赖，但也正在丧失经济基础的行业。对于投身这个行业、以追求利润最大化为己任的高管们来说，这项技能绝对必要。因此，《太阳报》的高管们能够把一家视觉媒体解雇整个图片团队的举动描绘成某种有助于他们“与精于数字技术的读者共同进化”的措施。

    应该指出的是，记者的摄影技术通常很糟糕。比如，摄影技术不过关的记者在事故现场一边忙着收集信息，一边忙着抓拍，出来的照片往往不能打动任何人，无论这些人是不是精于数字技术。新闻学院（同样，它们也受到了某些科技专家和咨询师宣扬的愚蠢理论的影响）一直在推动“多媒体新闻”理念，也就是要求记者拍摄照片和视频。大多数情况下，它将导致一个人搞砸三份工作，而不是一个人做好一份工作。此外，它往往会破坏一个观念：所有这些都是专业性很强的工作；同时它还会加强了另外一个错误的概念：任何人都能够同样出色地完成所有这些工作。无论是对记者，还是对读者而言，这都是一种令人震惊的不尊重。

    The decision by Sun-Times Newspaper Group to eliminate its entire photography staff, with its 500 or so collective years of professional experience, has everyone wondering what could possibly justify such a move. Is it union-busting? A way to squeeze profits out of a rapidly sinking business? A genuine, if seemingly clueless, attempt to shed a fusty "old media" image and forge ahead into the glorious digital future? Sadism?

    It could actually be a combination of any or all of those things. The newspaper's executives have been mostly mum, but their public statement was all about "forging ahead." Here's that statement in full:

    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.

    It is unclear how, precisely, canning the entire photo staff helps the company "evolve" with its "digitally savvy customers." The company isn't otherwise saying anything. But a tweet this morning from Robert Feder, who was the Sun-Times' widely respected media reporter for 28 years until he was laid off in 2008 [update/correction: Feder actually took a voluntary buyout], puts things in perspective: "Sun-Times reporters," he wrote, "begin mandatory training today on 'iPhone photography basics' following elimination of the paper's entire photo staff."

    Aided and abetted by tech pundits and consultants who indiscriminately belittle anything perceived as "old media" and, equally indiscriminately, champion anything perceived as "new media," many newspapers have characterized their more mercenary moves as hewing to a "forging ahead" strategy. See the New Orleans Times-Picayune for another recent example of this (and how has that worked out so far? Not so well). The executives themselves might actually believe it on some level -- rationalization is a useful skill that isn't taught in business school, at least not explicitly. For profit-maximizing executives working in a business that is considered a public trust, but is also losing its economic foundations, the skill is absolutely necessary. Hence, in this case, they are able to characterize the elimination of an entire photo staff in a fundamentally visual medium as something that will help them "evolve with [their] digitally savvy customers."

    Reporters, it should be noted, are in general terrible at taking pictures. Photographs snapped on iPhones by photographically inept reporters who are also trying to gather information at an accident scene, for example, are not going to impress anyone, digitally savvy or not. Journalism schools (again, often working from the addled theories of certain tech pundits and consultants) have been pushing the idea of "multimedia journalism" -- that is, having reporters take photos and shoot video. Many of them offer training in this area. Most often, this results in nothing more than one person doing three jobs poorly rather than doing one job well. It also tends to sabotage the notion that all of these are professional endeavors and to strengthen the false notion that anybody could perform any of them equally well. This reveals a shocking level of disrespect for both journalists and readers.