CNN: We don't need photojournalists!

Quick question

You've quoted them to say "We don't need photojournalists!" - just looking for where they actually say that?

eyes wide shut

if its quantity instead of quality of submitted material, that they are chasing. for no doubt less money paid to contributors and less overheads, then they are on the right track. If they think they can maintain CNN's high visual content standards doing this, then IMO they are mistaken.

Differentiation

If they rely on submissions/images from consumers through social media, how will they differentiate their news coverage from the "on the ground" accounts people can get from the same social media sites?

Surely, the strength of old media titles now is that they can offer high quality analysis and comment. Just as journalists offer the writing for this, photojournalists offer the imagery.

If you look at publications such as The Guardian and The Times, they place a special emphasis on professional photography, particularly photojournalism. And they've done well with Eye Witness and Spectrum respectively.

Why is CNN's approach to stop playing to their strengths and start featuring content that you can get anywhere else on the internet?

Also, will CNN observe proper licensing procedures when using content found on social media? Experience with a number of news outlets shows probably not.

So, CNN makes a move towards run-of-the-mill content that's likely to be in breach of copyright...

German TV station wants to cut videojournalists

I just read on newsroom.de that a german tv station wants to follow cnn and cut jobs in the editorial department, because the youtube and twitter pics get directly into the system. The article can be found here (in german): http://www.newsroom.de/news/detail/$GUKWFPEMJPJN/weil_brgerreporter_immer_besser_werden_cnn_entlsst_mitarbeiter_-_deutscher_sender_will_beispiel_folgen , it is full of interesting facts about cnn. The author even talked with Andre Zalbertus. He is already a legend and introduced videojournalism to germany. Newsroom.de is a reliable source, as it is the number one place for media news in germany, austria and switzerland.

IReport

I'm curious about what kind of agreement CNN has with the people who upload content in CNN IReport. They are pushing hard this kind of citizen journalism, just take a look http://ireport.cnn.com/