Johnston Press is disposing of staff photographers in a swathe of newspapers across England, reports HoldTheFrontPage.
Photographers are soon to leave the company's titles in Lincolnshire, Warwickshire, Northamptonshire and Buckinghamshire. Most will go after accepting voluntary redundancy packages; fewer than 10 are being made compulsorily redundant.
HTFP cites a Johnston Press spokesman as saying the decision to remove the photographers follows a local review "of the way photographic content is generated."
There have been unconfirmed reports that the publisher is planning to do the same in Scotland.
Comment: This move is no surprise. In fact, the surprise is that it hasn't happened sooner. Relying on freelancers - and, of course, citizens with smartphones - to provide pictures is far cheaper than having photographers on staff.
Yes, there will be those who argue that the result, in terms of quality, will be cheap too. But I doubt that will be the case at local weekly newspaper level. Everyone can, and does, take photographs as a matter of rote nowadays.
No event occurs - fires, fetes, road accidents, cats up trees, whatever - without someone being on hand to snap a picture. In the real sense of the word, newspaper photographers are therefore redundant.
I concede that standing outside court for ages to capture an image of a defendant or witness may still require a professional (enter the experienced freelance). Otherwise, for the general run of the news diary, anyone can do it.
I am not, of course, without sympathy for the plight of those who are about to lose their livelihoods, especially those who are being forced to go without decent compensation.
But they must surely recognise that their fate is due to a combination of the digital revolution and newspaper economics. It does make sense.
