Star Chiefs photog takes defensive line, justifies existence

In a guest post today that’s the top story on the sports-photography site Sports Shooter, Kansas City Star Chiefs lenser David Eulitt explains why the layoffs-beleaguered daily really, really needs him:

In fact, due to the advertising downturn and

the Chiefs 2-14 season last year, our paper reluctantly decided to skip sending

me on the road to the final two road games of the 2008 season, marking the first

time in over 20 years the Star had not covered a Chiefs road game. Combining the

often blowout, non-competitive games with the reality of needing to save as many

jobs in our department as possible made that an easy decision. (I’m back on the

road with the Chiefs this season.)
…

So how does our paper find content that makes

us stand out from the pack? We have two excellent beat reporters and a

photographer there with the team, at practices and games, both home and away. We

spend money to stay at the training camp in Wisconsin for nearly three weeks.

Even being thrifty, it’s still a big chunk out of our photo department’s budget

for me to be there. Why do it?

The NFL doesn’t credential bloggers and

access means content. Content means people come to our paper and website for

their Chiefs news. The days of getting news from a handful of sources has

vanished. WE are competing now, and that’s a positive thing.

Eulitt makes a solid case for himself and for his shutter-snapping brethren, at least if you still clip newsprint photos for a scrapbook. Even in an era of total-NFL satellite packages and DVRs, a keen-eyed football photographer is bound to capture definitive instants, during and between plays, that belong in the published record.

Now if someone will just explain why covering the Chiefs requires two full-time beat writers.