Digital imaging skills and the hiring and training of photojournalists

This paper, based on a national survey, examines the importance newspaper photo editors place on digital imaging and traditional photography competencies, and it looks at the implications for the training and hiving of journalists. It concludes that the shift from chemical to digital processing has led to a relative lack of concern among photo editors about the need for chemical darkroom skills. Many journalism programs, however, continue to focus on those skills. It finds that new technical skills, such as the use of digital cameras and the web, are growing in importance as are skills that reflect convergence of photo jobs with others within the newsroom, such as design and graphics. But photo editors say the key skill that reflects cross-media convergence - video - is unimportant now and only slightly more important for the near future.