CNN purges staff photojournalists

wasn't it CNN who accused FOX of lying when FOX claimed the Libyan government was using journalists as human shields? that one seemed to slip through the FOX dragnet i suppose?
 
Good on you, stick by your friend. However I still think it's a bunch of cow pucks. If this were true this indeed would be BIG news. If your friend is any kind of journalist I would expect them to come forward and provide some proof and blow this scandal out as front page news. I can see it now, the headlines will read "News Corp Hogties CNN". But of course we will never hear anything about it since News Corp evidently controls major news outlets.
 
eric rose said:
Good on you, stick by your friend. However I still think it's a bunch of cow pucks. If this were true this indeed would be BIG news. If your friend is any kind of journalist I would expect them to come forward and provide some proof and blow this scandal out as front page news. I can see it now, the headlines will read "News Corp Hogties CNN". But of course we will never hear anything about it since News Corp evidently controls major news outlets.
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Dear Eric,

Well, yes. It's their business. The only question is how many major outlets they control, and how effectively.

Cheers,

R.
 
shadowfox said:
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Those professional ex-CNN journalists ought to create their own broadcasting mechanism.
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And it takes a lot of infrastructure to do that globally, not just reportage talents and minds.
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They should form some sort of agency/co-op. Hire a grant writer or to and sell their work where they can.

They also should look to new outlets like Current. Perhaps even start their own for pay sight that has in-depth reporting we do not see on CNN or other places any more.

I wish them luck.

B2
 
This nothing to be shocked about. For qround 30 years now News Networks have been cutting staff. In the past you had a reporter stationed in each major area. Now there may be one covering 2 continents. Fox initiated the taling heads concept of news which was not only extraordinarily profitable but incredibly inexpensive to produce. All the company needs is a short video pulled off the internet and a guest who is not highly paid but doing it to increase his/her media exposure for book sales. As for CNN their news coverage has IMHO gone down. They cover a lot more soft stories with fewer people and those that they do employ seem to be of a lower caliber.
 
This was on CNN.com this evening. I don't even know what I'm watching. Is it supposed to be comedy? It surely isn't about journalism. Is this what staff photojournalists at CNN have been replaced with? If it is, I want to puke. If it isn't, it's just plain embarrassing anyway.
 
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I think firing good journalist in order to make money is absolutely disastrous on the other hand 80% of the journalists I know are no more competent or objective than the average man from the street. The remaining 20% are absolutely important for our society and democracy and I am absolutely glad they exist.

CNN and objectivity is a contradiction in itself these days. Most medias are ownes by big corporation with an agenda. Just take the reporting about Iran or Lybia objectivity is something else.
I am sorry for the journalists that will get fired and I've personaly been hoping for a newspaper and or TV Station that tells the stories that aren't told by the big media outlets or tells stories in an objective way. Maybe this will lead to journalists forming their own media (newspaper or TV).

Dominik
 
When my ex-girlfriend worked at the Edmonton Sun in Alberta, Canada a couple years ago, they laid off their most senior and expensive photographers and bought a Canon G10 for $400 and sent my girlfriend at the time through a few hour photography course and said she can take photos of the stories she does without the need of a photographer. They also got her to do video for their online stuff. So, she had to do double the work for the same pay while the biggest media giant in Canada skimmed off workers and raked in another fat chunk of cash. They still have photographers, but not like they used to. She will even admit she had little idea what she was doing. Shame.
 
Stop paying for CNN years ago, they are not objective and tried to brainwash the populace at large, Georgian War is case in point. Regardless, many good reportage photo guys are still producing great works depends on their narratives. In globalized world, their narratives are no longer valuable and become political, NGOs are only way to make your mark, for better or worse.
 
eric rose said:
Fox has people in the CNN news room calling the shots. Ya right. Where's your proof.
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Well, indirectly, here it is.
Rupert Murdoch clearly controls FOX and all his other satellite investments through News Limited and the financial structure he's established. He owns newspapers and TV stations here and elsewhere around the world. He is known to be extremely hands on in the day to day operations of his empire, fully up with the detail but handles most of it by phone and non-permanent communication. So he and his family can deny they knew anything about anything and that whatever goes wrong is the fault of people lower down the food chain. He pays them well and protects them as long as he can but abandon them when it gets too hot. He is known to cultivate powerful and influential relationships in Government and is able to call on political leaders for meetings to discuss matters of interest to him - political or business.
The people who report directly to him and are well paid to do his bidding hotly deny that they receive any overt direction from Rupert. They are tough people and argue his cause strongly, but there are numerous defectors from the ranks of print journalists in this country (and no doubt elsewhere) who have gone public with stories of how their stories are cut, edited or downright distorted to reflect the politics and financial imperatives of the owner - never by direct face to face instruction but always on the instruction of those in management who take their orders from Murdoch. Sometimes it's not by direct "order" but by the way the second line of management deliver the "line" that Rupert has indicated is "acceptable".
The conflict with their values has caused these journalists to seek work in other organisations. These are experienced and respected journalists who found it impossible to be coerced into reporting according to the Murdoch 'line' and maintain their integrity.

The News of the World scandal is illustrative of his methods. You should not delude yourself that his modus operandi changes elsewhere in his Empire.
 
Comrade Conrad said:
This was on CNN.com this evening. I don't even know what I'm watching. Is it supposed to be comedy? It surely isn't about journalism. Is this what staff photojournalists at CNN have been replaced with? If it is, I want to puke. If it isn't, it's just plain embarrassing anyway.
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It's designed to be very 'hip', very cheap to produce, without accountability (blame the 'citizen journalists' if it's wrong) and is Rupert's answer to Twitter. A big advertising revenue stream he's just realised is coming over the hill and he might otherwise miss getting his share.
 
Snagging a gig as a photo-journalist was never a easy way to earn a living. The trade has all kinds, the good ,the bad, and the gifted. They all started somewhere, some by chance, some went to school but they had to learn the craft. The photo schools are still turning out grads every year and it makes me wonder. With the decline of the magazines, the disappearance of most of the newspapers and now the lay-offs of photo-staffers at the networks, I wonder where will the next "great" photographers come from? It takes time to learn most any skill where will that happen now, by chance - with a phone camera?
 
Red Robin said:
The photo schools are still turning out grads every year and it makes me wonder. With the decline of the magazines, the disappearance of most of the newspapers and now the lay-offs of photo-staffers at the networks, I wonder where will the next "great" photographers come from? It takes time to learn most any skill where will that happen now, by chance - with a phone camera?
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Flickr. The next generation of photojournalists will effectively only cover botany stories and instead of Pulitzers they'll be rewarded by irritating twinkly .gif images.

In all seriousness, this whole shebang worries me for very personal reasons. I just graduated from university with a writing degree. A friend of mine graduated from the same uni with a journalism degree. We are now both sat on the scrapheap, wondering why we didn't just do apprenticeships to become plumbers. :bang:
 
well perhaps a bit premature, letting the cat out of the bags sort of affair but...

i say 'to hell' with the outlets. they are a serious pain to deal with, seem to be under the illusion that they are doing you a favour by running your work and the return on investment is not good.

in the coming year i don't plan to target/approach/rely on any media network or outlet to keep working. i think that horse has been flogged to death.

instead, a few like minded and seasoned photojournalists, a full time grant writer and researcher, a great and experienced writer and a marketing guru and i are making sure we have our yearly salary's and operating capital in place before we even begin. currently ironing out the details of a 'collective' to gets rolling.
 
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