The Determinations of News Photographs

This study uses news photographs and interviews with journalists to explore how Australia’s unprecedented 2019–2020 bushfire season was depicted for Australian and non-Australian audiences in order to extend transnational understanding of iconicity’s tenets and how news values vary across contexts. It does so first by examining the Sydney Morning Herald’s coverage over 3 months and then by contrasting this with international coverage that began in early 2020 once the issue spilled onto the world stage. Australia’s coverage focused intensely on human actors involved in the disaster while the vast numbers of affected animals were virtually absent. In contrast, international media visually depicted the disaster as an environmental and ecological issue with global consequences. The results suggest a need for a definition of iconicity that is inclusive to non-human actors and to inanimate forces that are personified. It also extends our cross-cultural understanding of the visual expression of news values.

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Recognition and Interpretation of Historically Significant News Photographs

Journal of Visual Literacy ◽

10.1080/23796529.1999.11674548 ◽

1999 ◽

Vol 19 (2) ◽

pp. 125-138 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Barbara Ph.D. Seels ◽

Barbara Ph.D. Good ◽

Louis Berry

Keyword(s):

News Photographs

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Stand-alone News Photographs Portray Less Diverse, More Segregated Communities

Newspaper Research Journal ◽

10.1177/073953291003100308 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 31 (3) ◽

pp. 83-88

Author(s):

Paula M. Poindexter ◽

Renita Coleman ◽

Maggie Shader

Keyword(s):

News Photographs

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The Rhetorical Power of News Photographs: A Triangulatory Reception Approach to the Alan Kurdi Images

Rhetorical Audience Studies and Reception of Rhetoric ◽

10.1007/978-3-319-61618-6_12 ◽

2017 ◽

pp. 309-333

Author(s):

Jens E. Kjeldsen ◽

Ida Andersen

Keyword(s):

News Photographs

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Photographic (In)authenticity

Video Journal of Education and Pedagogy ◽

10.1163/23644583-00401018 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 4 (2) ◽

pp. 60-81

Author(s):

Yaron Meron

Keyword(s):

Professional Practice ◽

Documentary Photography ◽

Creative Practice ◽

Starting Point ◽

News Photographs

Debates around authenticity within photographic discourse are persistent. Some have revolved around documentary photography, while other discussions focus on the ethical validity of digitally edited news photographs and indeed the photographic medium itself. This article proposes that discussions around ‘authenticity’ should be focused instead towards contextualising photography more appropriately within the creative practice of ‘making strange’. It acknowledges existing debates around photography and authenticity, before locating the discussion within creative practice. It then moves to a discussion, using Robert Capa’s ‘Falling Soldier’ (Capa, 1936) as a starting point, before drawing on examples from the author’s own creative and professional practice. In the process, the article argues that visual researchers embrace the challenges of making the familiar strange within photographic creative practices.

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