Media Issue 2: The power of photograph

Pictures tell a thousand words. Photograph are necessary in the reporting world. Sometimes they even explain the story better than the words can. Photographs helps the readers fully appreciate the story or the article as photographs compliments an article. Shepard, (1967) claims that pictures work better compared to text. The article is about a photographic gallery in Dubrovnik which exhibits only war photos. Wade Goddard, the curator wants to get a visual view from both sides of the war and the have a more global understanding of the war and what was actually going on in the war. Using words to describe is different compared to seeing the actual event may it be through photographs. The exhibits follow a story and aiming to touch the lives of the war victims. Photojournalist who took the photographs were present at the time of the war making all pictures real and valid. He tries to aware the public of the consequences of war and the suffering the soldiers and those affected in the war.


Caption: Photograph of war


Caption: Photograph of World War One

To some this may be a very sensitive and emotional issue and the curator is getting mixed emotions regarding the display of photographs during the war. The locals have still not forgotten the previous war and international visitors and photojournalists are in favour of it (The Media Report, 2007). Burkholder(2009), states that this is an intrusion of privacy in terms of ethical issues in photojournalism. In contrast, photojournalists and the media claim that these photographs are for utilitarian reasons (Lester, 1995).

Pictures of the war should be displayed as a remembrance of those who suffered and sacrificed their lives during the war. Those the pictures may be harsh to look at, reality is, photojournalist reports what happens during an event so that the public can see and understand without having to be there and by doing so, the future generation gets to see evidence of historical happenings of the country. These photographs are just to bring awareness to the society.

References
The Power of the Photograph 2007, online, retrieved 16 November 2009, from http://www.abc.net.au/rn/mediareport/stories/2007/2051819.htm
Burkholder, C 2009,Online Journalism Ethics:Photojournalism, viewed 17 November 2009, http://www.journalismethics.ca/online_journalism_ethics/photojournalism.htm
Lester,P 1995, Photojournalism Ethics Timeless Issues, viewed 17 November 2009, http://commfaculty.fullerton.edu/lester/writings/photoethics.html
Shepard, RN 1967, ‘Recognition memory for words, sentences, and pictures’, J Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior, no. 6, pp.156–163.
Photograph: http://www.pbs.org/thewar/at_war.htm
Photograph: http://www.makingthemodernworld.org.uk/stories/the_age_of_the_mass/04.ST.01/