The problem appeared simple enough to correct: paper jam. Yet there stood three senior editors in the middle of The Dallas Morning News’ bustling newsroom, gazing for 10 minutes at the intermittent flashes of green light emanating from a dot-matrix printer, unsure of their next move.
The prolonged pondering of his superiors held the young staff photographer’s eye long enough for him to realize that these men would sooner split the atom than correct the problem and retrack the paper onto its spool.
Photographer Robert Hart leapt up from behind the photo desk, shuffled past the thinking men, adjusted the printer paper and, without a word, returned to his desk and resumed his work.
Recalling this story from early in his career, Hart shrugs.
“You can’t be intimidated by new technology,” he said. “You’ve just got to learn it and figure it out.”
A successful, forward-thinking journalist for more than 30 years, Hart continues to adapt to the ever-changing technologies within the news business.
A Pulitzer-prize-winning photojournalist, he began exploring the possibilities of online storytelling in 1998 as managing director of Arlington.com, where he conceived, designed and constructed Belo Interactive’s first suburban news Web site.
Before becoming director of online content for Belo Interactive in 2000, Hart managed online news content for Dallasnews.com, serving as associate editor for 19 Web sites in 14 markets.
“What I admire most about Robert is that he has been able to anticipate what’s next and nail it, not only identifying the changes before they happened, but also embracing those changes,” said Olive Talley, a longtime friend and colleague.
Alyssa Banta, award-winning freelance and documentary photographer who worked under Hart at the Arlington Morning News, remembers the strong influence the Texas native had on her career.
At the time, the internet – and sending photos through the computer – was relatively new. Photos were shot on film then scanned into the computer.
In October 1997, only months after meeting her, Hart insisted that Banta purchase her own laptop and scanner before leaving to cover the Pope’s 1998 visit to Havana – making her the only freelancer with those capabilities and enabling her to compete with larger media outlets like The Boston Globe and The Dallas Morning News.
Instead of paying the Associated Press to transmit photos, Banta was able to do everything herself. “Encouragement is perhaps too mild a word – he really motivated me, pushed me and finally convinced me to do it,” Banta said. “Robert was always at the cusp of technology. He saw what was written on the walls and flipped unsentimentally, jumping into what was coming next.”
The most recent beneficiaries of Hart’s wisdom are students in his digital photojournalism class here at SMU, where he has been teaching as an adjunct for the last year.
“Technology – the Web, in particular,” Hart said, “has redemocratized the written word – forcing journalism to the cutting edge as more and more companies are popping up, creating marketable content.”
A key component of being a good journalist as technology continues to advance is being multi-faceted, Hart says: “Make yourself an all-purpose journalist; know how to write, shoot, edit and upload video. Practice on a blog. You have to have online experience.”
At his core, Hart remains the same. “He’s just a solid journalist,” Talley said. “When he sees a story, he knows it – and knows how to tell it.”
Before coming to SMU, Hart attended the 2004 national political conventions in Boston and New York with SMU students and Senior Lecturer in Journalism Carolyn Barta, with whom he had previously worked at The Dallas Morning News.
“A lot of teachers can have the skills and pass on the skills, but Hart has the type of personality that encourages students and draws out their best,” said Barta, who recommended Hart to journalism chair Tony Pederson after witnessing his ability to stimulate students at the conventions.
Hart became an invaluable editor and mentor to students at the conventions by helping them develop focus, upload and post photos to go with their stories, according to Barta.
“He is the type of teacher who welcomes the opportunity to help young people,” she said.
In Hart’s photojournalism class, students receive carefully balanced compliments and criticism – enabling them to laugh and learn at the same time.
Passing around his 27-year-old Leica camera – in pristine condition and still bearing the manufacturer’s symbol – Hart lets students handle the antiquated equipment and gives them historical and cultural lessons by explaining not only how the camera was brought to the States after World War II but also the function of its many parts.
Peering over the rims of his bifocals, the portly 53-year-old leans his broad shoulders forward, engaging students, while using the old-fashioned gear and a cordial demeanor to explain how far journalism has come technologically.
Hart keeps his class from getting too serious while critiquing students’ photos by keeping the mood light. “My job is to humiliate you in a room full of your peers,” he tells students, with a smile.
“He doesn’t just explain how to take a photo,” said senior journalism and international studies major Alessandra Frausin, “but tells us how to best use the elements of an image to convey a story. He also makes a point to tell students to develop as much hands-on experience as possible.”
Unlike reporters of 30 years ago, more and more journalists are being asked not only to know how to write for different mediums (print, broadcast and the Web) but also to be proficient in the editing bay as well.
“If your resumes look similar, and one candidate has Web experience and one does not, the employer has an obvious decision to make,” Hart said.
Years before many others recognized the importance of online communication and the new opportunities in the way to tell stories, Hart saw technology as a tool.
“Hart envisioned the Web being a 24-hour way to inform people from day one. He saw it before a lot of the rest of us did – including myself,” said Dr. Craig Flournoy, SMU assistant professor of journalism and former colleague of Hart’s at The Dallas Morning News.
Hart’s ability to speak of the impact of technology in the newsroom comes from extended personal experience.
After graduating from high school at age 16, Hart enrolled at the University of Texas-Arlington in 1972. In addition to a full course load, he also worked as a photographer for The Shorthorn, UTA’s student newspaper, shooting two to three freelance assignments a night during his last semester.
Graduating from UTA in 1976 with a Bachelor of Arts in Communications and Journalism, Hart began work at the Denton Record Chronicle, a feeder into the larger papers in the region and country.
As technology continued to advance, so, too, did Hart’s career. In June 1980, Hart accepted an offer from The Times Picayune in New Orleans to become picture editor – a newly developed position designed to push the publication and its photographers to excel in visual storytelling. It was a job he would hold for seven years before moving to The Dallas Morning News’ photo department in 1987.
During his tenure as photo editor at The Dallas Morning News from 1987-1998, Hart’s staff received four Pulitzer Prizes and he was part of a team that won the 1994 prize in International Reporting for his work on “Violence Against Women: A Question of Human Rights,” a series of 14 stories that examined the epidemic of violence against women in many countries.
His success at the Dallas Morning News led to his being named director of online content at Belo Corp., where for seven years he was responsible for directing and managing coverage of major breaking news stories and daily local news coverage in multiple markets at the enterprise level.
“Although photographers more simply function as problem-solvers, many tend to be astute, technologically competent people,” Hart said.
Competent enough, evidently, to master not only the intricacies of the dot-matrix printer, but the inevitable advance of technology as well.