A picture is worth a thousand words. In today’s internet era, photojournalism has more power than before to persuade and influence (Lester 1995). Anyone can produce and distribute a photo to mass audience.

The ethical issues

The beauty of photojournalism is that is should have no editing. It captures the moment as it is, telling the story that happened at that second. When reporting on an exhibition of war photographs, Heizman discovered that many of the visitors are moved by the photos, saying that unlike what is shown in the newspaper, the photographs showed a truth closer to reality (2007).

The shot of vulture waiting for the child to die in order to eat it depicts the 1994 Sudan famine. Courtesy of flickr.com

It is unfortunate that in newsroom today, editors abuse the power of photojournalism to manipulate readers. The issue arise when these photos are manipulated in the newsroom before being published in order to give a certain look to the audience. Lester believes that this is happening because of the obvious effect photos have on the emotion of its viewers (1995). Frequently, journalists opt for gruesome images along with their without really ascertaining the need for it – a way of sensationalizing the story.

The before and after of OJ Simpsons mugshot.
Courtesy of www.metafilter.com

Following Schriver’s supplementary mode where one mode dominated another, an image sometimes can be so strong that it does not need words to follow it (1997 pg 413) and today’s photojournalism is proof of this.

References:

1. Heizman, J. 2007, The Power of a Photograph, ABC Radio National, online, retrieve 5 June 2009, from http://www.abc.net.au/rn/mediareport/stories/2007/2051819.htm.

1. Lester, P.M. 1995, Photojournalism Ethics Timeless Issues, Book chapter for Micheal Emery and Ted Curtis Smythe Readings in Mass Communication, Brown & Benchmark, online, retrieved 5 June 2009, from http://commfaculty.fullerton.edu/lester/writings/photoethics.html.

3. Schriver K.A 1997, Dynamics in Document Design: Creating Texts for Readers, Wiley Computer Pub., New York

Maslin is a 20 something Communication Student living in the Klang Valley.
This blog was created to examine the many issues of publications and design, particularly ones related to web technology.

Maslin is very

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