The Importance Of Photojournalism

This essay discusses Linfield’s claim that “photojournalists are responsible for the ethics of showing, but we are responsible for the ethics of seeing” (2011, p. 60). It firstly defines contemporary photojournalism in the context of photographic seeing and our “postphotographic” age. Then, it argues that as part of their role in reporting truth back to their audiences, photojournalists have an ethical responsibility to show injustice. Photojournalists’ portrayal of injustice is further examined through an analysis Salgado’s ‘Sahel: The End of The Road’ (2004), where it is asserted that beautiful depictions of suffering are not inherently unethical, but are sometimes actually more respectful of their subjects’ humanity. Next, it is argued

As Kaldor and Linfield note, photojournalism grants viewers the opportunity to expand their ethical, political, and intellectual consciousness (Kaldor 2009; Linfield 2011, p. 46). Consequently, audiences have a moral obligation to look at injustice and acknowledge those who are suffering. Seeing injustice, however, does not necessarily translate to caring about, or acting on it; as rational, independent beings, viewers themselves need to make the mental leaps between seeing an image, changing modes of thought, and then motivating action (Kennedy 2015, p. 163). Therefore, photojournalism must be disburdened from the expectation that it alone can enact social change. As Taylor argues, “If photographs fail to induce action, the fault lies not with photography but with the larger system [that marginalizes and punishes victims of injustice]” (2000, p. 138). Ergo, photojournalists are responsible for the ethics of showing, while we are responsible for the ethics of seeing and acting (Linfield 2011, p.

As mentioned previously, audiences expect photojournalists to accurately depict the truth (Bruining 2017; Lamble 2016; Taylor 2000). Since they hold significant influence over viewership, photojournalists should therefore take some moral responsibility when their inaccurate reporting leads their audience to misconceive the world. One notorious instance where photojournalists violated audience trust was in the ‘Children Overboard’ affair of 2001, where tabloid and broadsheet newspapers circulated photographs of a child in the sea and claimed that asylum seekers were throwing their children overboard to coerce entry into Australia (Bruining 2017; Macken- Horarik 2003; Phillips 2006). These images were taken from a high angle and cropped to only show three adults and a child in water. What the pictures did not reveal, however, was that a large boat had sank, leaving the passengers stranded (Macken- Horarik 2003; Maclellan 2002). Unfortunately, the cropped images dominated the news cycle, with publications such as the Daily Telegraph proclaiming them as “Proof that boat people threw children overboard” (Macken- Horarik 2003, p. 293). These claims largely went unchallenged due to the public’s assumption that news photography is factual and objective (Bruining 2017; Macken- Horarik 2003). Thus, the power of photojournalism was abused to mislead