The day photo journalism died

This is one of the breathtaking pictures Chicago Sun Times reporter John J. Kim took for a gripping story about a night in the life of a city where people are killed at an unbelievable rate (if you have Flash capability, you can view the slideshow here).

For his efforts, he and reporters at the paper were awarded the 2011 Pulitzer Prize for journalism.

This morning, all of the photographers at the paper were fired.

Photo journalism is yesterday. It’s all about the video now, the paper said in its statement.

“The Sun-Times business is changing rapidly and our audiences are consistently seeking more video content with their news. We have made great progress in meeting this demand and are focused on bolstering our reporting capabilities with video and other multimedia elements. The Chicago Sun-Times continues to evolve with our digitally savvy customers, and as a result, we have had to restructure the way we manage multimedia, including photography, across the network.”

The paper will use freelancers when it needs old-fashioned photos.