By: Randy Dotinga California's 'Daily Press' Fires Photo Editor
A dispute over "artsy" pictures has led to the departure of half of the four-
member photo staff of the Daily Press in Victorville, Calif. The
newspaper fired Photo Editor Doug Benc shortly after it instituted a policy
discouraging photos that "do little or nothing to tell local news stories."
Another photographer, Brett K. Snow, said he quit after learning that he, too,
would be sacked by the 28,568-circulation paper, which serves the high desert
region 65 miles northeast of Los Angeles.
In an e-mail message to photographers, Managing Editor John Iddings wrote:
"Gratuitous use of extreme wide-angle shots, bent or shifted horizons,
distortion and/or silhouetted subjects or any other gimmicky approach are to be
avoided unless an extremely strong case can be made for this type of effect."
Publisher Ed Nichols told E&P the new policy is "just the old-fashioned
way of doing newspapers."
The orders were "disheartening," said Benc, a 34-year-old former prison guard
who has worked as a photographer for five years. "We don't go out and say,
'Let's pull the tricks out of the bag.' We go out and say, 'How can we tell the
story?'" Snow said the paper didn't give shooters enough time to adjust to the
new policy.
The two photographers claim the situation deteriorated when Editor Don Ray
addressed the issue in a meeting. "He said he didn't care that I wanted to shoot
artsy, and I could do that ... until I had a f---ing erection," Snow said.
According to both Snow and Benc, Ray apologized for this language after they
complained to the paper's human-resources unit. Neither Nichols nor Ray would
confirm the comment - the publisher called it a "minor" matter that was
handled by the personnel department.
Randy Dotinga is a free-lancer based in San Diego.
Copyright 2001, Editor & Publisher.
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