In firing all 28 members of its full-time photography staff, the Chicago Sun-Times
is weakening the integrity of the newspaper, according to approximately
50 protesters who demonstrated against the layoffs in downtown Chicago
Thursday.
Directing their message toward the company’s
executives and chanting “shame on you,” some of the city’s most
recognized photojournalists, including Pulitzer Prize winner John H.
White, expressed their outrage and dismay during a press conference at the Thompson
Center.
“We’re the heartbeat out there,” said White, 68, who worked at the Sun-Times as a photojournalist for 44 years. “We have this intrinsic connectedness
with life, and as long as there are people, and people are always going
to want to know the news, there will always be the visual. A lot of
people can’t read or write, but everybody understands the language of a
photograph.” Read more »
