Are journalism photography standards slipping?

Something of late has been disturbing me. As an ex-photojournalist my Dad would turn in his grave if he knew.

It’s the smartphone.

Not the fact of the phone itself; I admit I own one and my current Motorola does all I want of it – well mostly – and it does its primary focus quite happily. Making and taking calls. I can count the photos I have taken with one hand.

No I mean the overuse of the smartphone for photography, and in particular, photography used to illustrate pieces bashed out by journalists for public consumption via websites. They look awful, often have the shakes, lousy depth of field, shocking low light capability, inferior colour and are often out of focus.

Well yes I know that pretty much sums up the quality of imagery of any smartphone ever made (barring the Nokia N8 which is really a camera with a phone attached) but what I question is why anyone would allow their name to be placed on a photo taken by one for professional use? Is this the very best they can do? If they are “on assignment”, isn’t there a decent camera in the office bought for this very purpose they can grab, or don’t they possess their own?

I just don’t understand how anyone can allow second rate work to be published. Or even how editors allow it. I certainly wouldn’t, and I don’t know of any newspapers or magazine that would either, unless it was the only shot in existence of a particularly newsworthy event. So why is it OK for the web? Is it supposed to be in some way connected to the gritty almost underground way of the web? If so, it doesn’t work for me. I’d like to be able to see the detail of any pictures.

Or are there not the skills to operate a decent camera? If that is the case, surely this means a person doesn’t have all the tools they need to do the job. Somewhat like a carpenter that can’t measure or a truck driver with only a moped licence.

The only other explanation I can think of is that striving for the best is no longer the aim or the ambition, and “it’ll do” is just fine thank you very much. Hey they are getting it free so why should I stress?

If that’s the case, it is a very sad pointer to the state of our industry, so I really hope it’s not true.