Essay Photojournalism

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        Photojournalism is a particular form of journalism that employs images in order to tell a news story. There is no doubt this kind of journalism is one of the most important part of journalism, it is playing a major role and gives itself a great influence. This is why the question on trusting photojournalism is often raised. And it is said that today, people can really no longer believe in photos and when people no longer believe in photos, they can no longer make a change in the world. Let’s weight the positive and the negative arguments on this question.

        On the one hand, some people are thinking that photographs always mean the truth and never should be called into question as long as they are not changed or modified by people. Indeed, it is the case of the well-known-photojournalist Michael Kamber. He said he has seen the evolution of photojournalism and in fact, that doesn’t represent the one he support. He is, therefore, denouncing the “manipulation” and the “faked” images that are spread into the information-sphere of today’s life. Furthermore, he thinks that changing images alters their meanings and eventually originally objective history that they are always saying. It can be compared as the butterfly effect, changing things without apparent impact could change whole stories. This is why people are no longer believing in images and have less and less influence to change the world: the increase in the number of faked and changed photos are the responsible. Meanwhile the kind of photos he promotes is doing the contrary.

        Nevertheless, this is not the only opinion.

        On the other hand, some people declare for their part, that the problem is based on believing that photographs are always telling the truth. That is where their opinion are diverging. Although pictures seem to be objective as long as they are not changed by someone in order to inform people without giving an opinion, it has been verified that pictures could be manipulated in the way of how they were taken. It is not talking about external devices, but just the way and the context in which could convey a wrong/faked information. For example, it was the case in the killings in Sebokeng in South Africa at the end of the apartheid. People have been deceived by the pictures of the reports. As a matter of fact, it actually showed the policemen as a guiltless police, that help people. Where as in reality, it was not the case, the police had a part of responsibility in the killing. The images were give an alibi to a guilty police. However, they were not faked, the question was just about context and position. This is why the vision of Kamber is disagreed by some.

        To put in a nutshell, some people like Kamber believe in the power of photojournalism to change the world, he wants to make things change, he wants people to react in front of real and honest pictures. Otherwise, some are telling it doesn’t always tell the truth and you should be careful. It is clear that some dangers threaten, reduce and limit the power of photojournalism: the wrong interpretation that people can make despite the fact that photographers attempt to tell the truth, and the impossibilities they face to, sometimes we have to interpret these pictures without having the context. However, people should be aware of photojournalism’s flaws, inform themselves in order to make them trust in photos and make the world change in the correct way.

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