Photojournalism - Is it Dead or Alive?

Has Online Journalism Replaced Traditional News Photography?

Oct 9, 2009

Photojournalism with its rich history of social commentary and objective timely story-telling is at a crucial crossroads. Citizen journalism may be its newest face.

New York Times writer David Jolly recently wrote an article called, Lament for a Dying Field: Photojournalism, in which he expresses grave concern that photojournalism is in crisis. Newspapers, magazines and television have been cutting back on their use of news/photojournalistic images. According to the article, the future landscape for photojournalists looks bleak.

Amateur photographers have been taking over the field by posting their own images & videos to websites resulting in less work for the professionals while creating a new category of journalism called “citizen journalists.” These web images are often posted for free or at much cheaper rates then would be paid by traditional media. International stock photo agencies are also in financial trouble. Print opportunities are disappearing. There is also great concern about the recent shift from genuine news photojournalism to an international focus on celebrity info-tainment photography.

Photojournalism: What is it?

Photojournalism is a type of journalism that presents news material in pictures. It includes story telling, social commentary and news photography. Photojournalistic images tell a story that is timely and objective.

“It involves using the camera as a means of widening man’s horizon, to explore the realm of the factual as well as the emotional, to show how people live and feel,” writes Andreas Feininger, a twenty-year veteran photojournalist with Life magazine.

Photojournalism History

There are varying reports of the actual birth of photojournalism. Some historians say the profession began with the photos of Dr. Erich Saloman (1866-1944) who was known to hide his camera inside concealed locations like a brief case or flower vase to get the right photo. He even smuggled his camera into the U.S. Supreme Court when pictures were strictly forbidden. Saloman had a deep sense of the importance of documenting historical events.

Mathew Brady (1823 – 1896) was also an early father of photojournalism who photographed the Civil War and shaped the early days of war photography. Other classic photographers who contributed to the early birth and growth of this form of photography included: Lewis Hines' photos of the New York labor scene in the 1900s. Dorothea Lange (1895-1965) with the U.S. Farm Security Administration, worked with 12 photographers documenting the story of the great Depression.

Many more great international photojournalists added to the collective repository of spectacular images recording significant moments in history whether wars, famine, environmental crises, homelessness and also the joyous times of human celebration and victory.

Photojournalism Today & the Future

Digital photography has revolutionized photojournalism. There are now billions of images spinning around in a great electronic picture album. Amateur photos and video that were once rejected as grainy, gritty, inferior pictures are now making it to newscasts and being posted on internet sites, social networking sites, and personal blogs. Inconspicuous phone cameras and tiny digital equipment have resulted in instant, unedited images being sent around the world in record time. The professionals might squirm at some of the blurry, second-rate images that now become acceptable in the great World Wide Web, where photo editing and photojournalistic ethics are being challenged.

This quest for spontaneity, action and displaying one’s personal life on the web could have unknown future consequences. Does the human population risk being photographed too much? Does the photographic profession risk becoming one huge "peep show" of meaningless mundane images? Are the long-valued ethical standards of photojournalism being eroded by the internet? At the same time, is this new “citizen journalism” adding positively to a valuable, collective storehouse of image history or reducing standards of acceptable culture and taste? Some ethical standards might be a worthwhile consideration.

Photography Schools

With the evolving tide of photographic technology has also come adjustments in photographic education to address the ever-changing requirements of photojournalism in today's global village of world-wide web communication. Respected photography colleges, such as the International Center of Photography in New York City and the Brooks Institute of Photography, Santa Barbara and Ventura California, have designed contemporary updated programs, such as their Visual Journalism program. In Canada, the University of British Columbia Vancouver, offers a Graduate Program in Journalism with a highlight on use of multimedia. Ryerson School of Journalism in Toronto also offers courses in photojournalism.

There are also many other respected photography schools that can enhance one's future involvement in an exciting and ever-evolving profession.

The copyright of the article Photojournalism - Is it Dead or Alive? in Photography is owned by Bev Yaworski. Permission to republish Photojournalism - Is it Dead or Alive? in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.