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Newspapers Are Not Dead This came across the NPPA listserv recently. I'm reproducing it with permission from the author because it's worth a read: Newspapers are not dead-- and won't be in my lifetime. Many newspaper editors and publishers have always treated photographers as vocational employees. The reason for that can be traced to several issues: Education; photographers not understanding that half of the word photojournalism is JOURNALISM; failing to be part of the whole newsroom; appropriate dress (compared to reporters); not reading their own newspaper; the lack of an advocate in the newsroom (picture editor). I could list about a hundred other reasons, but for brevity, I won't take the time. Young photographers are so anxious to start working, they accept whatever the is offered. Photographers and reporters who have gone through J-school, taking the same classes (except the photojournalism majors took the extra classes that involved a camera), should be paid equally. For years they were not. Then they were. Now, it's a what can we hire this person for mentality. It has only been in the last 20 years that major steps forward have taken place in newsrooms, and that can be attributed to well trained picture editors -- who are willing to challenge the system. But in the past five years this is what has happened: Newspaper profits have taken a dive (ask any publisher if his classified ads are diminishing); Health insurance has sky rocketed, out-pacing the cost of living by hundreds of a percent; Newsprint is selling for $700 to $800 a ton; Ink is petroleum based (guess what); The 24/7 web has created, and I quote from dozens of editors and publishers, "Sometimes good enough is good enough." The newspaper still sells for 50-cents in most markets, as it did 10 years ago. Why? Because people have stopped buying a product that is filled with mindless, mediocre dribble. Newspapers have become so politically correct, that they don't cover their communities like they used to 10, 15, 30 years ago. Photojournalism has lost ground-- but not all is lost. We've lost some battles, but not the war. Hiring uneducated photographers because they work cheap has to stop. Current staff can be part of making that happen. Great pictures help sell newspapers. Prove it to your editor and publisher. Finally, get some graduate training that will propel your career — putting you in charge of the visuals and the people who take them. I strongly suggest THE KALISH workshop for picture editing. The Kalish is part of the National Press Photographes Foundation. Check it out at www.kalishworkshop.org. It will change your life. --J. Bruce Baumann 
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