{"id":106031,"date":"2013-06-17T21:50:19","date_gmt":"2013-06-18T01:50:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/getreligion\/?p=106031"},"modified":"2013-06-17T21:53:37","modified_gmt":"2013-06-18T01:53:37","slug":"a-chicago-photographer-waits-for-new-assignment-from-god","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/getreligion\/2013\/06\/a-chicago-photographer-waits-for-new-assignment-from-god\/","title":{"rendered":"Chicago photographer waits for new assignment from God"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

So, who has been following the drama that unfolded early this month up in Chicago, where the professional photographers at The Chicago Sun-Times were hit by the roller coaster of digital change earlier this month? To make a long story short, in the age of smartphones and digital video, the management decided to lay off the entire photography staff, award winners and all.<\/p>\n

Who needs photos better than those that can be shot by reporters and bystanders?<\/p>\n

Many people in Chicago continue to protest this.<\/p>\n

When the whole thing started, a reader sent us a URL to a sad Poynter.org piece<\/a> that explored the impact of this on one famous shutter star, a piece that put the spiritual angle right up front.<\/p>\n

I saved the piece and then forgot about it. It\u2019s still an example of how a news team \u2014 especially a niche news team like Poynter \u2014 can try to let a person\u2019s voice speak to the heart of things. In the end, I thought the story fell one brave word short. Here\u2019s the lede:<\/p>\n

John White\u2019s 44-year career at The Chicago Sun-Times<\/em> has been rooted in faith and professionalism. It\u2019s a career he refers to as \u201can assignment from God.\u201d<\/p>\n

Earlier this week, that career came to an end on what some photographers have called the darkest day in Sun-Times<\/em> photojournalism history. The paper announced \u2026 that it had laid off its entire photojournalism staff and would rely on freelance photographers and reporters instead.<\/p>\n

White \u2014 who has seen the paper go through many owners and changes \u2014 says he never imagined that his and his colleagues\u2019 careers would end so abruptly. In a phone interview, the 1982 Pulitzer prize-winning photojournalist and teacher recalled a day that he is still \u201ctrying to make sense of.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is what I remember hearing: \u2018As you know we are going forward into multimedia and video, and that is going to be our focus. So we are eliminating the photography department.\u2019 Then they turned it over to HR,\u201d recounted White, who had already been doing video at the paper.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The journalism details are all there, a blow-by-blow description of the digital logic of our day. The photo department included 28 full-time staffers.<\/p>\n

Up next: Classes in iPhone photography basics. It\u2019s happened before and it will, sadly, happen again.<\/p>\n

However, I kept waiting for the White\u2019s voice to return.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Finally, it did.<\/p>\n

Now, tell me if there is any particular word \u2014 yes, in paraphrase \u2014 that doesn\u2019t quite right true here, if you know much about White. The person setting the scene is former Sun-Times<\/em> managing editor Gregory Favre:<\/p>\n

Favre compared the loss of a paper\u2019s in-house staff to \u201ccutting the eyes out of the body. \u2026 John White was the eye that was always looking for the soul of Chicago.\u201d<\/p>\n

While several of the dismissed Sun-Times<\/em> photographers gathered at the Billy Goat Tavern on Lower Michigan Avenue to console themselves, White hopped into his car and headed to the lake in dire need of meditation, recalling that he \u201cjust wanted to disappear and needed to be alone.\u201d \u2026<\/p>\n

White said he was most concerned about his colleagues \u2014 the former students, young families and folks who came in while on medical leave. He also worries about readers, who will no longer be able to experience \u201cthe most important ingredient of communication and understanding\u201d in quite the same way.<\/p>\n

\u201cHumanity is being robbed,\u201d he said, \u201cby people with money on their minds.\u201d<\/p>\n

While by the lake, White turned to a reading from Psalm 20:4: \u201cMay he give you the desire of your heart and make all your plans succeed.\u201d<\/p>\n

He reiterated: \u201cMy assignment comes from God.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Now, picture White at that lakeshore.<\/p>\n

Meditation? Or prayer? <\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

So, who has been following the drama that unfolded early this month up in Chicago, where the professional photographers at The Chicago Sun-Times were hit by the roller coaster of digital change earlier this month? To make a long story short, in the age of smartphones and digital video, the management decided to lay off […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":610,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26,7,18,12],"tags":[1819,1820,1821,1818,1243,85],"class_list":["post-106031","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-announcements","category-journalism","category-people","category-religion","tag-chicago-sun-times","tag-digital-journalism","tag-internet","tag-john-white","tag-photography","tag-smartphones"],"yoast_head":"\nChicago photographer waits for new assignment from God<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"So, who has been following the drama that unfolded early this month up in Chicago, where the professional photographers at The Chicago Sun-Times were hit\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/getreligion\/2013\/06\/a-chicago-photographer-waits-for-new-assignment-from-god\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Chicago photographer waits for new assignment from God\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"So, who has been following the drama that unfolded early this month up in Chicago, where the professional photographers at The Chicago Sun-Times were hit\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/getreligion\/2013\/06\/a-chicago-photographer-waits-for-new-assignment-from-god\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"GetReligion\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-06-18T01:50:19+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2013-06-18T01:53:37+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/wp.patheos.com.s3.amazonaws.com\/blogs\/getreligion\/files\/2013\/06\/JohnWhite.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"tmatt\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"tmatt\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/getreligion\/2013\/06\/a-chicago-photographer-waits-for-new-assignment-from-god\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/getreligion\/2013\/06\/a-chicago-photographer-waits-for-new-assignment-from-god\/\",\"name\":\"Chicago photographer waits for new assignment from God\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/getreligion\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2013-06-18T01:50:19+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2013-06-18T01:53:37+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/getreligion\/#\/schema\/person\/76ce2260a572ff41a28fb285de9350f1\"},\"description\":\"So, who has been following the drama that unfolded early this month up in Chicago, where the professional photographers at The Chicago Sun-Times were hit\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/getreligion\/2013\/06\/a-chicago-photographer-waits-for-new-assignment-from-god\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/getreligion\/2013\/06\/a-chicago-photographer-waits-for-new-assignment-from-god\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/getreligion\/2013\/06\/a-chicago-photographer-waits-for-new-assignment-from-god\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/getreligion\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Chicago photographer waits for new assignment from God\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/getreligion\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/getreligion\/\",\"name\":\"GetReligion\",\"description\":\""The press . . . just doesn't get religion." - William Schneider\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/getreligion\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/getreligion\/#\/schema\/person\/76ce2260a572ff41a28fb285de9350f1\",\"name\":\"tmatt\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/getreligion\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1a42e72927fb665669c4e8531d08ce40?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1a42e72927fb665669c4e8531d08ce40?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"tmatt\"},\"description\":\"Terry Mattingly directs the Washington Journalism Center at the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities. He writes a weekly column for the Universal Syndicate.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/getreligion\/author\/tmatt\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Chicago photographer waits for new assignment from God","description":"So, who has been following the drama that unfolded early this month up in Chicago, where the professional photographers at The Chicago Sun-Times were hit","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/getreligion\/2013\/06\/a-chicago-photographer-waits-for-new-assignment-from-god\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Chicago photographer waits for new assignment from God","og_description":"So, who has been following the drama that unfolded early this month up in Chicago, where the professional photographers at The Chicago Sun-Times were hit","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/getreligion\/2013\/06\/a-chicago-photographer-waits-for-new-assignment-from-god\/","og_site_name":"GetReligion","article_published_time":"2013-06-18T01:50:19+00:00","article_modified_time":"2013-06-18T01:53:37+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/wp.patheos.com.s3.amazonaws.com\/blogs\/getreligion\/files\/2013\/06\/JohnWhite.jpg"}],"author":"tmatt","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"tmatt","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/getreligion\/2013\/06\/a-chicago-photographer-waits-for-new-assignment-from-god\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/getreligion\/2013\/06\/a-chicago-photographer-waits-for-new-assignment-from-god\/","name":"Chicago photographer waits for new assignment from God","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/getreligion\/#website"},"datePublished":"2013-06-18T01:50:19+00:00","dateModified":"2013-06-18T01:53:37+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/getreligion\/#\/schema\/person\/76ce2260a572ff41a28fb285de9350f1"},"description":"So, who has been following the drama that unfolded early this month up in Chicago, where the professional photographers at The Chicago Sun-Times were hit","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/getreligion\/2013\/06\/a-chicago-photographer-waits-for-new-assignment-from-god\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/getreligion\/2013\/06\/a-chicago-photographer-waits-for-new-assignment-from-god\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/getreligion\/2013\/06\/a-chicago-photographer-waits-for-new-assignment-from-god\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/getreligion\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Chicago photographer waits for new assignment from God"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/getreligion\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/getreligion\/","name":"GetReligion","description":""The press . . . just doesn't get religion." - William Schneider","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/getreligion\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/getreligion\/#\/schema\/person\/76ce2260a572ff41a28fb285de9350f1","name":"tmatt","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/getreligion\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1a42e72927fb665669c4e8531d08ce40?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1a42e72927fb665669c4e8531d08ce40?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"tmatt"},"description":"Terry Mattingly directs the Washington Journalism Center at the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities. He writes a weekly column for the Universal Syndicate.","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/getreligion\/author\/tmatt\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/getreligion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106031","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/getreligion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/getreligion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/getreligion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/610"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/getreligion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=106031"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/getreligion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106031\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/getreligion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=106031"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/getreligion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=106031"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/getreligion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=106031"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}