Lecture 12: Photojournalism

Tutorial question: Find a photojournalistic news story from any newspaper or magazine and answer the following question:

Retrieved from: 

http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/why-you-will-never-see-a-front-page-like-this/2005/06/30/1119724757442.html

a) Why did you choose this news over others?

The definition of a photojournalism is photographic images that convey great truths expose wrongdoing and neglect and to inspire hope an understanding and connect people around the globe. (Bersak, 2003) With this definition, I personally believe that this news is best to explain the importance of the ethics of photojournalism. The image itself has become one of the most powerful influential to make a change in poverty. Being human is about feeling the faith of restoring the humanity in the world, and this photograph alone will do tremendous effects around the world.

b) Is the narrative component of the story necessary or is the picture enough to express the intended message of the news?

The narrative component of the story is as important and the picture itself, the heading alone "20,000 die each day" would grab the attention of the audience and expresses the message needed to make poverty stop. According to the Mark Scott and John Fairfax, editors of the Sydney Morning Herald (2005) "we do not try to shy away from presenting difficult images but newsworthy stories that may confront and challenge." This is one of the main purpose photojournalism should be, to find a newsworthy story to print. The narrative's rationale is to persuade the readers of the serious problem of poverty, and that the want to help those in need is important in this rapidly growing society.

c) Did the picture and writings capture the "truth" of the event? 

Personally, yes. The picture itself says a thousand words, how children in the third world country are facing these life threatening problems. According to Paul Martin Lester, (1991) "As reporters, photojournalists must have a strong sense of the journalistic values that guide all reporters. Truthfulness, objectivity, and fairness are values that give the journalism profession credibility," in other words, it is important that the images taken for the news clippings, should be and always will be a strong representation of the message. The event of children dying every day should deserve a sad picture to represent the ignorance on mankind to those in need.

References:

Bersak, D. R (2003) Ethics In Photojournalism: Past, Present and Future.

Lester, P. M. (1991) Photojournalism: An Ethical Approach.

Lecture 11: Information Graphics

Tutorial question: Look at the following information graphic broken down into a series of four images and answer the following question: The original photograph is called "Skull with cigarette, 2007" by Chris Jordan. It has a caption below the photographs which reads: "Depicts 200,000 packs of cigarettes, equal to the number of Americans who die from cigarette smoking every six months". Why didn't the photographer just present the information in numbers? Why explain the statistics in graphical form?

Visual images is one of the strongest way of communication, according to Ann Marie Barry, (1997) that visual intelligence has been very successful in unconsciously persuading and brainwashing, those who respond to visual images. Why didn't the photographer present this information in statistical form is because of wanting to intrigue and interest the audience with visual interaction.

The photographer used the power of semiotics, the image of the skull is a sign of death and the cigarette is the sign for the cause of death. In Ann Marie Barry's first chapter, Perception and Visual "Common Sense" and states that visual problem like this image formed by the brand of cigarettes is a way of implicating memory effect that is exposed to visual stimulus influences a response.

According to Kostenlnick and Hassett, (2003) this image is the one of the many ways of rhetoric, the image was designed to pass the message of "200,000 is the number of Americans die from cigarettes every six months." Using 200,000 images of brand of cigarette to represent which of the brands causes more death. This is a inductive way of argument, where the argument is concluded that cigarettes are the cause of death of a quarter of the population of America. 

In conclusion, visual images are one of the many ways of communication and with the art  of persuasion, transmitting the message using the power of signs such as skulls and the actual cigarette will encourage visual stimulation from the audiences. Therefore, using images to present information is more simpler and easy to relate with than information graphs.   

References:

Barry, A. M. (1997) Visual Intelligence: Perception, Image, and Manipulation in Visual Communication. New York.

Kostelnick, C., Hassett, M. (2003) Shaping Information: The Rhetoric of Visual Conventions. USA