Good topic here.
I would suggest that the mantra among all chief photographers should be “hire for attitude, train for competence.”
You can’t beat an employee with a good attitude. News photographers in this day and age should be team players first and foremost. Second, they should think of themselves as journalists, and should be encouraged in that role by their chief photographers and mentors. A photographer who sits around waiting for great assignments will never get them, and a photographer who helps formulate story ideas, who pitches ideas to the desk and reporters and who takes ownership in the execution of such ideas will, in time, become the person reporters fight to work with.
That said, I’d suggest the role of a small market chief photographer is to instill all the above (a work in progress) and to train for competence. Teach the basics of news photography, visual storytelling and the mechanics of the craft (cameras, lighting, editing, microwave), and encourage all of it to be second nature.
As you move up in the business, speed is also important. A good photographer in a large market knows every short cut in the book and learns new ones all the time…and uses them. And the on-air product looks like no short cuts were taken in any of it. Strive not for perfection but for a product that is "perfect as it can be" given the constraints of time and resources...worry about things out of your control and you are asking for migraines, high blood pressure and burnout. Been there, done that.
Finally, Wayne Freedman’s book “It Takes More Than Good Looks” should be required reading in all newsrooms large and small, for everyone.
