With the economy still in distress and the need for staff photojournalists continuing to dwindle at various publications, a beaming glimmer of hope has come in the form of the Dubois County Herald, a small town newspaper based out of Jasper, Indiana. Unlike many publications that have cut the cord on using their staff photojournalists to rely on freelancers and the public in an effort to save some cash, the newspaper in the spotlight has made it a top priority to not only focus on photojournalism as a means of getting out the news to their readers, but also to allow their staff photojournalists to keep their jobs and receive their yearly raise.
The Herald, which has been an integral contributor to the community of Dubois County, has been around for over 100 years, and in keeping with tradition, according to the official page of the newspaper, “it has told thousands of stories in words and pictures about the people that made Dubois County what it is.” Luckily for us, and the photojournalists over at the Herald, it’s the tradition of what the tabloid stands for that has allowed readers to embrace the hard work that photography entails and photojournalists undergo.
In opening every Saturday’s newspaper, Dubois County residents are sure to find an image on the cover, influenced by the art form and the individual behinds the lens, and Saturday photo-stories, which are explicitly developed to merge and blend attentive reporting and major photography skills. The issues run ad-free, allowing room for the conjoined narratives and images all the more possible.
The herald’s precedence of keeping photojournalism alive has allowed their photographers to produce such fantastic imagery that the newspaper was one of the winners at this year’s renowned Photography of the Year International Awards, along with big name winners like that of The New York Times and The Los Angeles Times.
The publication’s unyielding need for staff photographers, and eye-opening revelation of a story to us, is motivating in that if one small newspaper can accomplish something as surreal as the aforementioned, especially in dire times like these, then perhaps other publications can follow suit, so that all photographers can have the right to salary-based work and time with his or her family.
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