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Neil Burgess, The End of Photojournalism
The state of Photojournalism, straight from the top.
“I woke up this morning with a dream going around in my head. It was as if I’d been watching a medical drama, ER or something, where they’d spent half the programme trying to revive a favourite character: mouth to mouth, blood transfusions, pumping the chest up and down, that electrical thing where they shout “Clear!” before zapping them with 50,000 volts to get the heart going again, emergency transplants and injections of adrenalin …, but nothing works. And someone sobs, “We’ve got to save him we cannot let him die.” And his best friend steps forward, grim and stressed and says, “It’s no good. For God’s sake, somebody call it!”
Okay, I’m that friend and I’m stepping forward and calling it. “Photojournalism: time of death 11.12. GMT 1st August 2010.” Amen.”
Neil Burgess is the former head of Magnum and Network Photographers.
Full article here.
Photojournalism as a profession, traditionally speaking, is dead. It will find it’s way, but its back is turned to publishers for good.
As Photo Editors harvest flickr for coverage, wanna-be PJ’s chew their nails and consider the next step. It’s getting shittier and shittier but things are popping up over the last few years.
David Allen Harvey created and curates Burn Magazine, an online Journal highlighting photographic essays and handing out grants. It’s self published and ad-free. It’s no 2nd coming but it’s a step in the right direction.
Check out VII’s online publication if you haven’t already. Similar model, little less homegrown.
And found in the comments of Neil’s article, I came across Latitude Magazine. I’m curious to see how this one does. No reviews in the itunes store so far. Ipad-only paid-content seems like a risky maneuver with no ad revenue coming in. But as stated in his comment, it’s published by the photographers shooting for it and the revenue goes directly into their pocket. But are people really willing to pay for it? I’m still undecided, and I don’t have an iPad, so count me out for now.
Either way I hope they do well. It’s a business model for an optimist and it sounds risky as hell. Risk is exactly what we need so I wish them the best.
