Friday 29th of March 2024

picture of the passing moment...

official

For the last few years, handsomely-paid executives at mainstream mastheads across the country have continually rolled out cost-cutting measures, resulting in a purge of important jobs that work to create a high quality product. Some of the most damaged are photography departments, as the likes of Fairfax and News Corp lean toward freelancers or cheap’n’nasty solutions such as stock agency photos, journos armed with smart phones, or user-generated content.

Mick Tsikas, a Canberra-based Australian Associated Press photojournalist, described to Inside Imaging the current trend as the ‘casualisation of news photography’.

‘They’re (mainstream media publishers) cutting into the bone now, and are going to kill the patient. Yet there’s contributors at The Australian who are paid a quarter of a million a year for writing a couple articles per week, while photographers are on $70-$80,000. Just imagine what some of those top executives are getting. It’s a joke.

‘Yet we’re living in a visual age. The internet is a visual medium, so I’ve never understood why we’re cutting the visual people. People read less, and look at photos more.’

In June, News Corp Australia axed the job of its last remaining Canberra-based press gallery photographer, Gary Ramage. A spokesperson told The Guardian that the multiple Walkley-Award winning photographer would be replaced by freelancers. This now includes Gary himself, who News Corp shamelessly invited back to contribute on a freelance basis to its new newswire service, NCA NewsWire. (Ramage is unable to comment on the incident, but he’s going to give freelancing a good crack for the next 12 months. ‘I am still as passionate about my photography as I was when I first started in the industry,’ he said.)

Since Mick joined the Federal Parliament Press Gallery in 2015, the number of photographers has roughly halved from around eight to just four.

‘It’s hard to understand because politics is a news organisations’ muscle. It’s their strong arm, and you’d think they’d reinforce it with lots of coverage. This NCA NewsWire hires freelancers and looks like a casualisation of photography. They don’t want to buy gear, pay sick leave and holidays, superannuation and all that.’

Not only are there fewer photographers than ever in Canberra documenting the goings-on and keeping politicians accountable, but News Corp has even begun sourcing free ‘propaganda’ photos from Adam Taylor, the Prime Minister’s official photographer.

 

Read more:

https://www.insideimaging.com.au/2020/press-photography-infiltrated-by-p...

sneakily airbrushing the dirt...

If Scott Morrison’s department is going to be underhanded you would think they would do something useful like airbrushing out this week’s largely dismal collection of economic figures, rather than doctoring a picture of the Prime Minister’s sneakers.

Mr Morrison’s Photoshopped family gathering showing him with two gleaming white left-footed trainers brought some light relief to a week that included the manufacturing sector contracting for the first time in 26 months, building approvals tumble and a further slowdown in job advertising growth.

 

Read more:

https://thenewdaily.com.au/news/national/2019/01/13/scott-morrison-economy-brinsden/

 

But as the year went on, Morrison won the day by wearing different caps and fudge. Meanwhile someone recently complained that most media use stock pictures of ScoMo rather than get a new one...

how shit works in your favour...

Scott Morrison has apologised for erroneously claiming Kevin Rudd had been travelling outside Australia during the coronavirus pandemic, with the former Labor leader claiming the Prime Minister had “misled parliament”.

Mr Rudd blasted the Mr Morrison for spouting “utter falsehoods” about his travel itinerary, in a blistering statement following a fiery Question Time on Monday.

“I have subsequently been advised that Mr Rudd has not travelled internationally during the pandemic… I also apologise to Mr Rudd for the statement and am pleased to correct the record,” the PM said in a statement to the Clerk of the House of Representatives.

It comes as fallout continues over the errors that allowed two German nationals to skip quarantine in Sydney, with a federal minister demanding New South Wales ‘do better’ as red-faced police admit even their beefed-up procedures might still see travellers leak through COVID safety nets.

Mr Morrison had slammed Labor over a “cowardly” attack on the nation’s hotel quarantine system, amid criticism about former Liberal politicians allowed to skirt the rules the rest of us have to follow.

 

Read more:

https://thenewdaily.com.au/news/2020/12/08/rudd-morrison-quarantine/

 

Shit works like this: you attract attention on the fact your opponent (or its representative, in this case former PM Rudd for Labor) has done some naughties. Your opponent looses 2 electoral points...Then as the media and your opponent point out that "you are wrong", you apologise for having been wrong and you smell good. You've won 2 points in the deceitful operation... Smart hey?