Amid all our positive observations, we became concerned about the state of photojournalism in the pages we saw. We missed emotional photographs. Glossy magazines and newsprint pages with vast, luxurious expanses of space were largely devoid of powerful photojournalism.
The lack of strong, documentary images puzzled us. We wondered if this has something to do with reduced investment. The industry has lost so many positions for picture editors and others, and yet great photographs can’t be made without time, care and commitment. Perhaps in places where the work is being done, print space to showcase it is no longer available.
Having had the luxury of seeing hundreds of papers in the last few days, we’d like to raise a red flag on this issue. It’s one of print’s great powers to enable users to savor moments captured in the best photos. How can we recapture and deliver this value to readers?
via The Society for News Design thx Ryan.
5 Comments
This is a canary in the coal mine thing…. and yet totally obvious….
Newspapers have less budget,less staff, lots of wisdom walked out the door recently, and there are more fidgety advertisers, and publishers don’t have alot of classified ads to buffer anything anymore,advertisers won’t subsidise investigative stories on subjects that don’t attract a spend-o-matic demographic… no more Eugene Richards photo spreads about cocaine addicts, more “look at this great house” imagery…
Amazingly lit, glossy pix of celebrities may still sell, people seem to want escapism and advertisers are happy with that too…
thank you for posting this but is there any follow-up to where the need for this content is being fulfilled? if its not in print publications, where is it? or where can it go? the need for a certain type of content doesn’t just dissolve into celebrity news and real estate ads…
while i think it’s appropriate to acknowledge change and briefly lament what was lost due to changes in technology and industry but seems kind defeatist and nihilistic if we don’t ask “what next?”
Damn right. I will say that the last two PRINT issues of Newsweek have been photographically excellent: Paolo Pellegrin’s Egypt photos were fantastic with plenty of large, dramatic play–in black and white, no less–even on the cover.
If you didn’t read the ful article this little bit will give some direction on where to look for thepublication that is still doing the documentary photo journalism.
” the most successful will continue to experiment and invest in the qualities that make print publications special: their ability to capture a moment in time and invite us to ponder it on our own terms; the way they engage our senses and dazzle us with beauty, emotion and intelligence; their portability, utility and capacity to both relax and stimulate their readers. Sometimes, the publications that did this the best were the smallest. There’s much for all to learn from the nimble, experimental newspapers that are gaining fame for their innovation.”
Very timely Rob. I will be still ooking at the more regional publications for this kind of work.
INVITATION
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