AP- Google
The National
AHN
American Power
Orlando Sentinel
Digital journal – World
Mumbai Mirror – Cover Story

New York Times
State of the Art
Traveling Exhibition
War Resisters League
Wikipedia

CBS Sunday Morning
Wikipedia – CBS Sunday Morning
Charles Kuralt

GMB Akash’s gallery on child labor in Bangladesh spans more than a year of reporting and adds to his collection of photos documenting a complicated section of the Asian continent. The variety of his work, from suicide farmers, hermaphrodites, brick makers, and railroad hitchhikers, bring us close, almost too close, the fringes of the world he sees.

“Child labour is not a new issue in Bangladesh as children remain here one of the most vulnerable groups living under threats of hunger, illiteracy, displacement,exploitation,trafficking,physical and mental abuse. Although the issue of child labor has always been discussed, there is hardly any remarkable progress even in terms of mitigation”

Links:
60 photographs by Lewis W. Hine the investigative photographer who worked for the Child Labor Bureau.
Wikipedia – Child Labor
Child labor laws in the US
National Child Labor Committee
Keating-Owen Act
Global march against child labor
UNICEF – Child protection from violence, exploitation and abuse …

“The paper will be a little smaller,” editor Denis Finley said. “I think readers will notice. We will keep the quality of the journalism as high as possible. There will just be less of it in the daily Pilot.”

Virginian-Pilot cuts 125 jobs, plans to reduce paper’s size

Simon Dumenco at Ad Age asks if American magazine publishers like publishing or are they interested only in covering their butts when advertising drops and the bottom line begins to suffer? Above are the major American magazines that have ceased publishing this year. Most have no online presence. They’ve just gone away.

Also from Ad Age today:
New York Times Co. in “Uncharted Territory” – Aren’t we all?
China TV Auction Shows Little Sign of Economic Meltdown – Sombody’s got money
The Last Page – Gone, gone, gone
Largest Times Square Sign Ever Goes Live – More somebody’s got money

is a Rolleiflex, Leica, or a Nikon F2 Photomic S. Please!

Ed’s Note:

How does a photo become an icon for a new generation and nobody knows the name of the photographer? The Chicago Sun-Times is selling on Ebay canvas prints of its front page of Nov. 5 with the striking photo of Barack Obama introduced as Mr. President. The photo is classic in its simplicity, dynamic in technique and certainly worthy of becoming an icon to mark a new face in American politics.

Copies of the paper were selling on Ebay for as much as $100 the day after the election. It still sells there for more than 75 times its street price. The Sun-Times listings are as Fine Art Limited Edition collectibles with bidding starting at $350 for each of the 44 available prints.

Since Oprah held up the Nov. 5 copy of the Sun-Times on her show declaring it the best post-election front page in the world, the company has been receiving requests for copies of the paper and the photo. People were lining up outside the printing plant on Nov. 5 to buy copies, some buying hundreds for resell.

The Chicago Tribune received similar increases in enthusiasm for owning its front page but nothing like the Sun-Times being deluged with eager readers.

The most significant difference between to two is obviously the photo.

So, the question is, who is the photographer? The name is not in the paper. I had someone look. It’s not mentioned in the Ebay sales. it’s not available on the Sun-Times Web site. None of the Sun-Times bloggers have the name. The question goes unanswered at other blog sites.

There are several reasons the name is missing.

It’s a Sun-Times staff photo with no requirement to include credit. This is unlikely. If it were staff, we’d know. The public relation benefit to include the name is enormous. Especially if it is John White, Pulitzer prize winner and still a staffer.

It’s a strong possibility it’s from a freelancer. I’ve not seen the Sun-Times freelance agreement but I doubt in includes language guaranteeing credit or remuneration for freelance photo resales. A freelancer, with most newspaper contracts today, signs a work-for-hire agreement releasing copyright and any legal attachment to the photo. There’s no reason for a credit. No additional monies spent for distribution rights including canvas prints on Ebay. A simple freelance fee for what is probably less than the selling price of one Ebay print and the photographer is left out in the cold not even allowed to sell reprints. The Sun-Times owns the rights.

It’s a handout from the Obama campaign. This is something the Sun-Times is not eager to admit.  Imagine Obama’s home town newspaper being supplied a front page photo the subject has approved and submitted. What would be the result if it had been a McCain victory and they published a handout from his campaign. So much for ethics and a separation from news subjects.

One possibility is that it has been digitally altered. Not likely although some bloggers have questioned the very narrow depth of field and plane of focus as digital enhancements, not done in camera. Creating this look with digital alterations would violate almost every rule of modern photo ethics.

No matter the reason, I want to know who shot the photo. It’s a significant image worthy of discussion. I want to know the circumstances of the shooting.

WWWWWH!

Editor:s Note: Guess my asking questions for two days brought out an answer. I was half right on the freelancer theory, dead wrong on the others. It’s from the Corbis Rights-Managed collection.

Poynter Online has an e-mail interview with Michael Cooke, editor-in-chief of the Sun-Times, saying the photo came from Washington, DC photographer Brooks Kraft.

Cooke told Poynter “(We expected that) the opposition, the Chicago Tribune, would print the ordinary podium shot. I wanted us to stand out. But it was a risk.”

Link to photo at Corbis