Why Sports Illustrated laid off all of its photographers
Khai Le
“Can news organizations survive without photographers on staff? That question jolted the media world Friday after Sports Illustrated laid off its entire roster.
Photographers haven’t been hit with a layoff of that scale since The Chicago Sun-Times cut its entire 28-person photo staff in 2013. The newspaper said it would use freelance photographers and ask its reporters to do some shooting of their own, though it did end up rehiring four.
The move by Sports Illustrated, owned by Time (TIME), was particularly notable because beautiful photographs dominate its print pages and online articles. And while it seems unthinkable for a publication so reliant on high-caliber images to cut its photographers, it had only six of them on its staff. Many photos on its pages come from Getty Images, the Associated Press and other providers.”