Media pundit Roy Greenslade speculates in his GuardianBlog that staff news photographers will become a thing of the past due to the increasing useage of reader generated content. He quotes former US newspaper executive Alan Mutter who in his own NewsosaurBlog recounts the recent arrival of the Queen Mary 2 into San Francisco harbour. “their (pro photographers) shots were no better – and posted no more rapidly – than those taken by the Flikr clickers”, he says, referring to the comparative cheapness and accessibilty of imaging and transmission technology.
Though staff photographers will be needed in the foreseeable future to shoot features and the odd video, those skills will soon be usurped by citizens (and reporters) says Mutter.