Monday, October 19, 2015
Union Protests NY Times Decision To Stop Listing Designer Credits
Business & People News content from Live Design: Local USA 829, IATSE has sent a letter to the editors of The New York Times protesting the decision to cease listing designer credits in the web and print versions of their theatrical reviews. The Union encourages all its members and other interested parties to do the same.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
4 comments:
I want to walk into the New York Times office and ask them what they're gosh darn problem is. First, the Tony Awards got rid of the Sound Design Award (which, doesn't have to do with the NYT, but I'm still not over), now the most prolific newspaper in terms of theatrical reviews has omitted designers from its publishings. This is more than a coincidence; this is moving theater away from appreciating designers. They need the publicity too! While their jobs are not as up front and in your face as the actors', it should in no way be discredited, as it is being here. Since hearing about this, I've seen this letter shared countless times on social media of all kinds and I sincerely hope it makes its way into where it is so desperately needed. Since then, I've seen no press release from the Times, which makes me wonder if this is going to be a permanent thing. Hopefully they're taking their time to draft a sincere apology for their blatant disregard of designers. Have fun acting naked in the dark!
So I started to write a comment on an article written by a sound designer who was upset that he was on longer being listed in the New York Times. I do not think it is weird for this sound designer to care about being credited. Our industry is VERY MUCH based on who you know and having your name out there. As that author said, there are not hords and hords of people who will know a single designer or technician’s name. So it is important for an artist’s work to be attached to their name because they deserve the credit and need their names need to be seen. The union should totally be upset over this. Especially because this is not some trash paper, this is read by quite a few people. All the reasons listed at the end of the letter make perfect sense, the NY Times can recognize their own people in credits, but not the people that made the content of those photos happen? That’s wrong.
what is this recent backlash against designers? does the media not think that audiences will care about who worked behind the scenes? Because, while it is about pleasing their audience, it's also about the people who are written about. the letter is right, the people who work behind the scenes are hardly given as much credit as those center stage, and to take one measley box of print away is just another blow. it is disheartening as a designer to see this clear message of disinterest. at the Tonys design categories are for commercial breaks and this is exactly the same. why drive a profession further into the dark instead of for just a moment, glorifying many peoples hard work?
One thing that concerns me about this issue is the fact that I have not heard about it anywhere else besides the articles here. Taking away designer credit is a serious blow to the industry, especially from a publication as well-read as the New York Times. Designers and production staff already get much less credit than actors, directors, producers, etc., and taking away what little credit we do get only reinforces the notion that the production elements of a show are not important to the final product. I hope the New York Times understands the impact this has on not only the designers who work on the shows they review, but also the effect on other news sources who review shows. This type of move by a large and well-known newspaper could easily encourage other sources to make this change as well, which would only make the situation worse.
Post a Comment