Photojournalism - How picture editors decide what is a good picture

[Donald]

Here a link to a fascinating article by the picture editor of The Guardian (UK) looking at how the emphasis needs to/has to change in showing the climate crisis, but it also makes you think about the images in relation to any topic.

https://www.theguardian.com/environm...res-guidelines

[pschlute]

Very interesting, especially how they have considered how the pictures and words need to be saying the same thing.

[rpcrowe]

Donald...

One thing that is paramount for an editor in selecting images is that the image will support the editorial policy of the publication in which the image will be published.

It is nice to think that photojournalism is dedicated to publishing only the truth but, it is also nice to think that there are purple pigs with wings that deliver babies to expectant mothers...

There are very few publications with a neutral policy. We tend to think that a publication is neutral in its editorial policy when we agree with the policy of that publication.

A good example of this is Edie Adam's famous photograph of the South Vietnamese Chief of Police executing Nguyen Van Lem...



This image was widely distributed and won the Pulitzer Prize... Very few editors added the background story that the guy who was shot had just cut the throats of South Vietnamese Lt Col Nguyen Tuan, his wife, their six children and the officer’s 80-year-old mother

No publication remarked that "According to Article 4 of the Third Geneva Convention of 1949, irregular forces are entitled to prisoner of war status provided that they are commanded by a person responsible for his subordinates, have a fixed distinctive sign recognizable at a distance, carry arms openly, and conduct their operations in accordance with the laws and customs of war. If they do not meet all of these, they may be considered francs-tireurs (in the original sense of "illegal combatant") and punished as criminals in a military jurisdiction, which may include summary execution"

In the wave of Anti War Sentiment, the Library of Congress declared that the summary execution was illegal...

Was...
Nguyen Van Lem wearing a fixed sign (or uniform) recognizable at a distance?
And was he conducting his operations in accordance with the rules of war when he did his throat slitting?

I don't think so but, the Library of Congress apparently wanted people to think that way! It was the policy at the time to vilify the South Vietnamese Government and that image was published all over as an indictment to that government...

Like I said, photos are published to further the policies of whatever publication they appear in and to hell with the real stories...

How many publications featured images of the hundreds or thousands of Vietnamese who were executed by the Viet Cong and NVA in Hue during the same Tet Offensive that spawned the Pulitzer Award Winning photo. NONE! Because it was not the policy of many publications to expose the VC and NVA for what they were...

BTW: that was a darn good photograph and should have one an award. It's just the way the editors and publishers used it that I question...