Think about this for a moment. At the finish line, there must have been hundreds of cameras. You would think everyone was taking pictures and recording videos. Twitter as a publishing platform is primed and ready for stills and video. It’s a world where everyone has a camera. But I saw very few images from the general public.
Why is that? As you look through the photo galleries and videos, you can reach your own conclusions. But as I watched the behavior of photojournalists, it confirmed for me the need for professionals in this age of de-professionalization of the news industry.
via Tragedy and the Role of Professional Photojournalists – Assignment Chicago.
12 Comments
Yeah, that’s what all this means. I love how everyone has to spin this story into some self-serving statement. What is a “professional” journalist at this stage? It sure seems as though the networks and local press have reported more wrong information that factual at this point.
Utter self serving nonsense. The vast majority of pictures I’ve seen have been from non-professionals.
@A. Noninoni
Can we add people who can’t read either? He said professional PHOTOjournalists…
@Raymond Fleming
The vast majority of pictures that I’ve seen from non-professionals weren’t that good either. You missed the point of the post.
Believe whatever you like, but there is plenty of blame to go around in this sorry display of the journalistic profession. There’s been bad reporting, bad images, bad video, erroneous conclusions drawn from bad photos and video, idle speculation and rumors presented as news. Last time I checked photojournalists were part of the profession of journalism. So yes, I can read. But, no, I don’t think photojournalists should get a pass. The coverage of this story from the beginning to now has been unprofessional, sloppy and shameful.
Also consider this story began as a standard sports story. The lead runners in every competitive category had crossed the finish line long before the bombs went off. I’m sure many of the professional sports shooters sent to cover this event had moved on to other assignments long before it became a news story. Unless there was a human interest angle, there’s not much news value in images of people completing a four-hour marathon.
I .. uh… I think you might be using a different Internet than I am?
This begs the question of how would this story be different if the only images available were crowd-sourced. Many people in the general public think of self preservation, and a few think of helping others. Social media has been quick at finding images and information, much of it more wrong that major media. While the main news outlets made many mistakes in coverage, the public posting across social media was not showing any greater accuracy, nor much of any discretion.
[…] published a short piece tonight: ‘This Confirms The Need for Professional Photojournalists” – which immediately attracted several dissenting comments, dismissing APE’s […]
I think the security cam shots and cell phone shots have actually outnumbered the pro shots in the coverage I’ve seen. There are a handful of pro shots that have been published repeatedly, but as strikingly superior as they are, they are in the minority.
Amen to that ! The difference in coverage comes from a difference in attitude…
It isn’t that there was a need for professional photojournalist, there was a need for photographers who understood how to encapsulate a story or a situation in the frame – and do that in an instant and get all the technical issues in a usable form.
‘Professional’ crap, what was needed was good photojournalists either pro or amateur.
Who cares really? There are many arguments to be made for the necessity of professional photojouralists but this is not one. What would a photojournalist’s skills have added to this story other than eye-candy that sells newspapers and wins awards? There is no need whatsoever for a visually striking image of such a tragic event.
I think that is a great point. I’m surprised more commenters don’t feel the same way. The proof is in the images.
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