A comment on the Journalistic Image as Visual Sociology

Using the example of a picture showing Nixon’s resignation as president, Becker (in Prosser) argues that at the time of taking, instantly told the outcome of the story surrounding the Watergate events and Nixon’s downfall. Everybody looking at this image of the president leaving the White House, was familiar with the context it was taken and therefore the picture carried significant power (specifically as it was cover news on most papers). Some time later however, the picture was part of an archive and merely used by historians, however, its significance and context can no longer be assessed by the image alone to people that have not been following the events taking place at the time. Using this example Becker generalises that images used for journalistic purposes have their impact only in context of the contemporary; events that arouse the attention of people at the very moment, thus providing them with the information needed for interpretation. He suggests that sociological analysis can be used to preserve the context it was taking in by including it in range of images depicting the Watergate events, Nixon’s presidency in general or the way in which the presentation of this picture happened. Such a series of images can well be using relevant texts or other records in order to capture information about the events described as a whole. By this, the context is recreated and made available also for those that have not been present when the single image was part of the ‘news’. It is therefore possible to for single photographs to retain their relevance, even though they are part of the past.



References:

- Prosser, J (2000), Image Based Research: A Sourcebook for Qualitative Researchers. Routledge/Falmer.