Dobby thinks he should have prefaced this post with an explanation and provided some context...

The article itself is not the real issue. The real issue is that number of media gatekeepers (the companies that control what you see and hear about the world around you) is diminishing, and it is changing the way these companies gather and disseminate information. This is happening because many smaller companies are being bought by large international and multi-national conglomerates. Subsequently, many magazines, newspapers, local TV stations and news related websites are now owned by a single parent company.

In an effort to reduce operating costs, more and more of these companies are looking at ways to reduce the number of people they employ. One way is to have a shooter (photojournalist) that can shoot video for the tube, get the still shot for print, and have either available for the web. Let's face it, it is cheaper to have one person on location than two, or possibly three.

If you look at many of today's digital camcorders, most have the ability to capture a still frame while shooting video. It is true that these images are generally of low quality that is not suitable for print publication, but that is changing. I know for a fact that a number of manufacturers are working on integrating a high quality CCD into their existing video cameras, so that with a simple touch of the finger a high resolution image can be captured while shooting video footage without skipping a frame.

Dobby is not going to make a judgement on whether this approach is right or wrong. At the moment it just is. The point Dobby is trying to make is that anyone interested in pursuing a pj career should know that this is coming. UT is not the first to alter their program for teaching photojournalism to adapt to this new paradigm, nor will they be the last.

What Dobby will say is that the lines between true journalism/photojournalism are becoming more blurred with each passing day. The gatekeepers are becoming more powerful, and much of what we see and hear has become a combination of propaganda and info-tainment. This is the real threat. Because once one can control people's knowledge of the world around them, then manipulating that knowledge can get them anything they want.