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SunTimes/DarkTimes blog highlights effect of Chicago Sun-Times layoffs

Jun 28, 2013 at 18:34:12 GMT

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A new Tumblr blog, SunTimes/DarkTimes is documenting the effects of the recent layoffs at the photo department of the Chicago Sun-Times, as the paper shifts to greater use of multimedia, and smartphone images for its news coverage. The blog is posting comparisons highlighting the difference between photo coverage in the Sun-Times to that of the Chicago Tribune.

The Chicago Blackhawks parade the Stanley Cup around Chicago on Tuesday June 25th. The Chicago Sun-Times' front page image is on the left, and the Chicago Tribune's treatment is on the right.

The results certainly seem to reinforce the views of many commentators who warned that the Sun-Times' photo coverage would suffer as a result of the cost-cutting. We've included a couple of examples here, and there are plenty more on the SunTimes/DarkTimes blog.

Another image from the Chicago Sun-Times' coverage of the Blackhawks win.

Click here to visit the SunTimes/DarkTimes Tumblr

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Comments

Total comments: 42

Looking through the blog my opinion is that the Sun-Times' images aren't awful, the problem is that they lack sparkle. They look like something from a small local newspaper that sources its images from some local chap. Too many of them are taken from the middle-distance with the sky blown out white, as if it was overcast all the time; the Tribune's images are generally in the thick of the action and are much more colourful.

0 upvotes

I don't care ... who reads the paper media these days? Newspapers are struggling, but they will disappear pretty soon ...

0 upvotes

I have been told that the picture on the left is a hoax, that it was never published in the newspaper.

0 upvotes

We can all whinge all day.....'but the times they are a changing'.

One only has to see here on dp that every DAY, new technology in the camera world comes out.

No good crying about it and lamenting for the 'Brownie 127'.

When i first started as a young photographer, i saw the older photographers using plate cameras, and using those 5x4 for sports photography.
Then the Rollie came out, followed very quickly by the mass produced SLR, try-x film and D76 (for those who know what Im talking about).

Shall i go on......
I dont think that i will bother, the rest is history......and its still in the making.

A press photographer can now buy a DSLR, and wire pictures straight to his picture desk as he is snapping away......and this is just the beginning.

George R

1 upvote

No, no need to go on. That was a pointless rant about technology instead of the quality of photographic output. And anyone who says "the times they are a changing" has dated themselves and indicated the banality of their following statements.

7 upvotes

Are you 100 years old?

1 upvote

I think the whole concept of employment is so yesterday. There are ways to do everything with fewer and fewer people and we're just getting started.

1 upvote

some of those pictures are just lol-worthy. I would not bother reading from a source that doesn't respect the quality of what they publish.

It's the same for any other industry and/or profession. If you don't care, I see no reason why I, as the reader/viewer, should care either.

The UPS guy above is just lol.

3 upvotes

Leaving aside the quality of the pictures, or the distinct lack of it....
..... why does the trophy appear to be part of a jetliner, perhaps salvaged for forensic examination after it crashed?

Comment edited 3 minutes after posting

2 upvotes

The picture on the left...the guy looks like he's just a UPS guy unloading a truck with somebody's delivery.

The one on the right; that looks interesting.

But I don't read papers with sports sections. Sports sections are boring to me.

8 upvotes

It is now a newspaper run by those who don't know the internet has been invented.

Jurassic Times.

3 upvotes

What a plummet in quality.

The big corrupt old media outlets, not barely even shadows of their former selves, are all dying their quick deaths, one by one. Good.

2 upvotes

Where to start..

0 upvotes

What are you talking about, "rapidly"?

It's like a slow-motion crash of two amoebas. At this rate, the Sun Times will outlive the very youngest of DP Review's readers!

1 upvote

In related news, and to further cut costs, Chicago Sun-Times replaced all journalists with tweet feeds and eye witness reports....

And in related news, customers replaced Chicago sun-times with toilet paper.

15 upvotes

From their perspective "professional photographers" just have the necessary knowledge and training to operate an expensive camera when apparently anyone can use a smartphone's camera to the same extent, no training required ~

1 upvote

Newspapers are dead. This (firing all their photogs) is just a pathetic effort to stave off the inevitable.

1 upvote

Not all newspapers are dead - in Germany the reach of the top newspapers - notably the daily Süddeutsche and the Frankfurter Allgemeine and the weekly Zeit - has actually gone up. Gone up especially with top decision makers. So content does matter

5 upvotes

Andreas: yes, this seems to be an essentially american issue. In Europe there isn't such pressure to replace paper edition by internet contents.

3 upvotes

I still read Investor's Business Daily in newspaper form. That it has no sports section is a relief because it lowers my "noise floor" of useless information. ;)

3 upvotes

Ahh, so the difference between pro and amateur is a press-badge. A lot of the photos are "better" because they were taken from restricted areas.

1 upvote

That's ridiculous. The Suntimes photos were taken by their reporters who surely have press badges.

4 upvotes

Really? Do you see no differences between the two photos? If that's the case, maybe it's time you found another hobby.

9 upvotes

Being able to shoot from credentialed areas certainly does help, but there's still a big difference between the shots taken from those areas by professional photojournalists and amateurs.

1 upvote

Great of dpreview to point this out.

2 upvotes

This article is in error.

The front page of the Sun-Times was all red with large print and a small sized photo of the image pictured at above left.

It is not just the photo quality that matters but the ability to place it on a page effectively as well.

Comment edited 36 seconds after posting

1 upvote

Not true, that was a hoax mock up of the front page.

0 upvotes

Wow - just click through the photo galleries for Jun 28 (when the Stanley Cup went around Chicago). The is no comparison. One is up close, in focus, well composed, full of action and interesting moments. The other is "dim" and grainy shots of the Cup taken from 15 rows back as it passed by on a bus.

7 upvotes

Some top-notch work there in Tribune's image gallery.

2 upvotes

Who needs Pulitzer Prize winning photographers, when you can use amateurish snapshots instead? (sigh)

10 upvotes

Wouldn't it be love-r-ly if Columbia University awarded a Pulitzer to the Trib for its photograhy simply as a way of flippin' the bird to the Sun Times? Wouldn't it be lover-r-ly. It would make quite a statement.

6 upvotes

Wow, cherry picking photos to make the story YOU want. Newspapers are dead and the only people buying papers will be dead soon. When was the last time you seen a person under 40 buying one.

14 upvotes

Are you implying that with the death of paper news good reporting photography also should die and that's a good thing?

8 upvotes

So cynical. Look at the images posted on their respective websites. No comparison. If anything, on-line content is even more dependent on "photos."

18 upvotes

When was the last time you conjugated a verb correctly?

10 upvotes

Those were taken from news websites, not scanned from print.

6 upvotes

There was one example where the Sun-Times was nice and modern like you wanted. They posted a video on their website instead of a photo on paper.

Unfortunately, they still did it wrong. While the Tribune's example had a compelling photo drawing you into the layout, compare that to the Sun-Times' video which was a poorly chosen video thumbnail with a big "play button" on top of it. It's one thing to say you need to be up with the times, but another to execute badly on it.

2 upvotes

Awesome. You reap what you sow, right?

9 upvotes

I rip what I sew.

3 upvotes

I rip what I saw. Unless I crosscut or miter.

3 upvotes

I thought you sewed what you previously had (accidentally) ripped.
If it ain't broke, don't fix it! (a pity the guys at the Sun didn't heed this piece of advice...)

Comment edited 2 times, last edit 2 minutes after posting

0 upvotes

sow what?

0 upvotes

Total comments: 42

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