Its not the photo part of journalism that is dying – there are some great images out there-, it is the journalism part. When was the last time you saw a story explained in photographs rather then lengthy text. Today’s photojournalism consists of reading a story in the news and covering it. It is not so much journalism as it doesn’t seek to explain and reveal but rather illustrate. A kind of stock photojournalism. The reason ? Financial, of course.
Photographers read websites and print newsmagazines in search of the next big story. But instead of looking to break a story, they look for the story that everyone will talk about. So they can sell images. The modern photojournalism process is to anticipate demand of a news story and try to cash in on it rather than looking to create a demand by discovering a story. It’s a perpetual search of the big news story of next week. A bit like celebrity photographers chase the next hot celebrity, photojournalists chase the next new hot story. This has two effect:
– Over saturation on one topic as massive amounts of photographers rush to cover what is already been talked about.This can be seen at places like Visa pour L’image at Perpignan where one in two portfolio is about the same subject, who, by the way, will be widely covered during the nightly projections. One can easily catch cornea nausea after three days there.
– Void suction : Behind the mass convergence of photojournalists to the top 2 or 3 hot stories, a big void is created. Huge. A few celebrated and/or truth driven photojournalists still try to break stories. But, either they expose a useless piece of information (very often) , or they cover it with overly “self satisfying photo contest grabbing” images ( for those that are above the news). They have transformed the breaking story part of photojournalism into a large empty playground for their artistic expression.
Sure, that is not the whole landscape of photojournalism today. There are still, here and there, some great photojournalist that still do their job the way it should be. But they are rare and few, as it is still ( it never was easy) extremely hard to make a decent living out of it.
So what is dying today in photojournalism is those news photographers that depend on the news to illustrate it instead of creating it. With everyone, absolutely everywhere having a camera and learning to use it, it is no longer necessary to send specialists. The same way, it is no longer necessary to have a pro stock photographer shoot commercial stock images. In other words, it’s a rebalancing of the forces in place and maybe a welcome one. Maybe some of those stock news shooters will readapt to the news market condition and look to break news with their cameras ( being journalists again) or maybe they will find another profession ( wedding photographer ?). Harsh maybe, but the market is even harsher. And maybe, just maybe, and if the media participate and are willing, we will see the emergence of great photojournalism that actually reveal and teach us something we didn’t know.
Nice, Paul. Totally agree.
Thanks Rob
Very well said, Paul. I hope you’re joining us in Perpignan next week. You’ll have an audience of thousands with thoughts like these.
I wish I could go. I love Perpignan. But unfortunately I have family matters to attend to so I can’t. I hope to go next year.
It reminds me a great post by David Campbell about context and photojournalism. Without the journalism part, there’s no context, and therefore no understanding of any kind of situation.
I like the picture illustrating the story. Where does it come from?
Flickr
Photojournalism’s suicide http://t.co/h8aYGRg5b4 #Photojournalism
This is true of journalism, period. Photojournalism’s suicide http://t.co/TSQSUvatht via @melchp
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Wise Words – Photojournalism’s suicide http://t.co/UnxdV2M4Bs via @melchp #Photojournalism
Photojournalism’s suicide http://t.co/vABstWphNn via @melchp
‘What is dying…is those news photographers that depend on the news to illustrate it instead of creating it.’
http://t.co/lMrP6zg38R
RT @davidc7: ‘What is dying…is those news photographers that depend on the news to illustrate it instead of creating it.’
http://t.co/lMr…
RT @davidc7: ‘What is dying…is those news photographers that depend on the news to illustrate it instead of creating it.’
http://t.co/lMr…
Photojournalism’s suicide http://t.co/gV12pkM4UE via @melchp
Photojournalism’s suicide http://t.co/CupRJikl62 via @melchp
RT @davidc7: ‘What is dying…is those news photographers that depend on the news to illustrate it instead of creating it.’
http://t.co/lMr…
RT @theclick: Photojournalism’s suicide http://t.co/8gWIekrLNf
RT @davidc7: ‘What is dying…is those news photographers that depend on the news to illustrate it instead of creating it.’
http://t.co/lMr…
RT @davidc7: ‘What is dying…is those news photographers that depend on the news to illustrate it instead of creating it.’
http://t.co/lMr…
Photojournalism’s suicide http://t.co/6ZggzessoG via @melchp
RT @davidc7: ‘What is dying…is those news photographers that depend on the news to illustrate it instead of creating it.’
http://t.co/lMr…
Galerie Jheditorial liked this on Facebook.
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PHOTOJOURNALISM’S SUICIDE- it’s not the photo bit that is dying!
http://t.co/HkP8wTzJgX
This is pretty much on the money RT @laurencewatts: PHOTOJOURNALISM’S SUICIDE- it’s not the photo bit that’s dying! http://t.co/1nj5PgApiv
RT @stuartfreedman: This is pretty much on the money RT @laurencewatts: PHOTOJOURNALISM’S SUICIDE- it’s not the photo bit that’s dying! htt…
RT @stuartfreedman: This is pretty much on the money RT @laurencewatts: PHOTOJOURNALISM’S SUICIDE- it’s not the photo bit that’s dying! htt…
Photojournalism’s suicide http://t.co/Gmi7SIKEGI via @melchp
Vale a leitura.
“Its not the photo part of journalism that is dying – there are some great images out there-,… http://t.co/NVT2f6mbmB
Hmmmm…..Photojournalism’s suicide – http://t.co/UjZ3gIzqW4
Photojournalism’s suicide – http://t.co/nsi2AGyev3
It’s not the photojournalists that are stuck in this cycle, it’s the news industry in general: http://t.co/Vo38tgtOqg no $$ to discover
A point well worth reading about the future of photojournalism – http://t.co/VwerSXZoJU
Photojournalism’s suicide http://t.co/TiZbO40n1g via @melchp