Flickr is Photo Journalism
On my way into work today, around 7:30am I heard on the radio a landslide occurred in North Beach in San Francisco.
When I got to work I saw the Chronicle had an article about the landslide, listed as their breaking news at 8:34am.
But Flickr was the only one who could show me actual photos from the landslide, posted at 9:13am.
When everyone has a digital camera + internet access, everyone becomes one right-place right-time event away from being a photo journalist.
How do newspapers respond to this new breed of photo journalism? It is not possible for newspapers to dispatch photographers faster, an amateur will always be their first. Do they purchase their images from amateurs? Or do they slowly get replaced by sites such as Flickr?
This is not the first time I’ve been interested in an event I heard on the radio and wanted to see a photo of it. The next time I’m interested, I might just go to Flickr first instead of hoping The Chronicle has a photo online of it.
Tags: photo, journalism
Amateurs may get in on the publications via a camera and a little luck with being at the right place at the right time…but it is the photojournalists who will continue to tell the stories the singular, one event image can’t tell on its own