An Insult to the Memory of 'The Front Page'

 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The tabloid Chicago Sun-Times has eliminated its entire photography department staff and will rely on freelancers and reporters with smartphones to provide images and video content, rival Chicago Tribune reported today.

Between 20 and 30 Sun-Times staffers will be pink-slipped. The economic bottom-line decision to shut down the photography department is a slap in the face to former Pulitzer Prize-winning Sun-Times photographers such as John J. Kim, John H. White and countless others.

Since 2012, the Sun-Times editorial page editors decided not to endorse political candidates, the paper shuttered its suburban bureaus and is being printed by the Tribune. At some point, you have to decide if you still want to be a newspaper and an important voice in the community or just a revenue-generating advertiser.

The former Chicago-dwelling staff of "TUOL" recalls a Sun-Times that featured Mike Royko, Roger Simon, Roger Ebert and lesser-known, but highly skilled reporters and photographers, and is deeply saddened to see what the tabloid has become.