subject fatigue, editors and the existence in between

[emraphoto]

i was pouring through the final selections from Sony World Photo recently and i couldn't help but notice that our world has shrunk. now i know there are in between worlds, like the bloodiest conflict since world war II/looming break up of Sudan (and many other countries)/financial impact of BP's spill in the gulf states/collapse of agriculture in sub-saharan Africa/euthanasia debate in Quebec etc. etc. BUT it appears Afghanistan and Haiti have become the most important global issues of our time. important enough to muscle out other issues.

"where am i going with this"

well, with all the talk about the death of this and the death of that (photojournalism/print media/photography/take your pick) i couldn't help but think "subject fatigue" might play a big role. even i, a rabid follower of photography in the media, have stopped picking up the papers/magazine/whatever with the US army medevacs in Afghanistan on the front. i have stopped looking at the crumbling buildings and amputees out of Haiti. from taking with friends and others, i know i am not alone in this.

the other issue that came to my attention is the myopic view this work forms in it's audiences. take for instance the seemingly endless stories about Detroit crumbling to the ground. how accurate of a picture do these stories paint of Detroit. surely there must be more depth to a city of 800,000 plus? i have friends that drive down there on weekends as it's "a pretty cool town". it reminds me of the stories that came out East Vancouver. junkies, needles and misery... over and over again. it was such a small piece of the areas story it was infuriating and at times detrimental to the people that lived there or had a business.

so my thoughts... photojournalism has become so myopic in what makes it to distribution these days it is doing itself a terrible disservice. this viewer is growing fatigued by the ever changing "story of the decade"... the one that hits the distribution channels every day, 100 times a day. i am tired of reactionary journalism. "crisis in Egypt"!!! if the people hadn't taken to the streets and started their protest the press outlets wouldn't even have known there was a "crisis in Egypt". 24 hours a day i see footage of the same protesters carrying the same injured guy in his "Jesus Christ pose" out of the square... 3 days in a row. a 16-23 up close and a little blood on the forehead. throw in a flag in the back ground and crouch... SHAZAM! front cover.

i am REALLY beginning to understand Christopher Anderson's comments about "not caring about the death of photojournalism".

so where do we go from here? there a more and more crowd source funds about. Kickstarter and the likes but how does one convince the folks that distribute that there is more going on in this world than what the National Post runs on the cover. where do these stories fit? even if the $ to get them produced is cobbled together, how does one get it out? how do we distribute and hopefully then tackle the issues that face us prior to them becoming "CRISIS IN EGYPT"!!! or "DISASTER IN THE GULF"?

forgive the length and possible "sour grapes" tone folks. i am truly anticipating your replies.

 

[newspaperguy]

Well my friend, I think you need to be reminded of one the oldest adages
in journalism, to wit: If it Bleeds, it Leads.

As someone who spent more than 30-years directly observing the day-to-day tracking of publications' sales, to determine precisely
what the public was buying on the news stand...

I can tell you that like it or not - and most of us didn't; it's true.

In another sense - good news is NOT news.

 

[jan normandale]

News is what the publisher decides it is. News is what the editor/gatekeeper permits thru the door. Understand? Now go buzz off and nobody cares about your story regarding the melting of the Antarctic or denuding the Amazon. We can't make money off that so it doesn't fit. More Fox , more Sun blah blah blah. Bring on the "sky's falling" more hyperbole and beer ads with girls in bikinis. Give 'em what they want and if they don't want it figure out how to change it so they do.

Notice: "sarcasm may be present in the text above"

On another note the blogosphere is getting very interesting and there's some big names cranking it out. Gotta say that it's heartening. Ignore the mainstream media, it's a con job with retail "commerce-shills" adding to the pain threshold. I've cancelled newspapers and I have dropped cable TV. It's a start. I don't think I'm alone. I do think the conglomerates are noticing and they're getting worried. Just like the greedy record companies a few years ago the bonuses are in danger. No more second cars and ski condos or yachts.. Lions and Tigers oh my!

 

[emraphoto]

indeed Jan!

perhaps the dialogue is more about how we PROTECT quality documentary/photojournalist/whatever. who do we support and look to to inform us of the world.

the question and challenges are as much the audiences burden as ours.

the whole affair can be a relevant tool, to help us shape our own world, if we choose to support it, rather than the late to the party blood hounds.

"this just in! live from correspondent X's balcony at the sheraton! BLOOD IN THE STREETS". i literally laughed out loud when i saw CBC's report that dude was shooting with the camera on his laptop from his balcony.

"there's the square, can you see it"? uh, no. i can see a bunch of colored pixels floating about and giving me a headache.... "cut to shot of crowd carrying bloody guy NOW!".

the media has become a reactionary device. vapid and late to arrive most of the time. beyond this there are folks out there risking their lives to tell little known stories that are important to the global community and their work appears on web based blogs, run by photographers and mostly unseen. what is wrong with this picture? (forgive the play on words)

 

[Pickett Wilson]

And these "sky is falling" redactions of reality are coloring people's view of the world in dangerous ways. We would probably all be better off with less media of all kinds.

 

[Ranchu]

Well said, newspaperguy and jan. I see a LOT more interesting photos/stories online than in news papers/sites. I still have the last two shots here in my mind. http://www.rangefinderforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=101230

 

[daninjc]

I re-read the post a whole bunch of times to try to pinpoint exactly what problem with current reportage journalism you're pointing to. I'm not saying it with any polemic intention. I'm actually interested in the topic, although I'm in no way an expert.
I read pretty widespread magazines (say new yorker, atlantic, nation), and in no way i feel any "subject fatigue". (but i don't have a TV so i might be biased). I've been reading amazing reportages on topics that are not constantly on major newspaper headlines - from wars in sri-lanka to central africa to climate change and energy use to new orleans, just to say a few of the top of my head.

And as a matter of fact I also feel we need more reportages on potentially world-changing events as the crisis in Egypt, or the war in afghanistan, certainly not less.

 

[daninjc]

This to me looks like a truly reactionary idea.

We would probably all be better off with less media of all kinds.

 

[daninjc]

I'm in North America, but originally from europe.
Maybe the discussion would benefit from making a distinction between what makes headlines on the daily news (they have to capture people attention in less than few minutes), and what is covered more in depth by reportage articles? I feel there are a lot of good journalists out there that cover amazing stories and enough editors that support them.

i suspect you are not in North America? i say this because i know from experience Europe and Asia have a far healthier reportage market. it is in fact those markets i target these days.

 

[Pickett Wilson]

"This to me looks like a truly reactionary idea."

Well, there is nothing I can do from my small town in Texas to fix the problems in Egypt. Egypt certainly hasn't asked for my help.

But if I watch the 24/7 coverage on CNN, I can grow more & more angry, and perceive the world as an increasingly dangerous place, while there are pressing needs in the small town where I live. Better to spend my emotional and physical energy where I can effect change than to watch and worry over events and in places where I can't.

I've always been a news junkie, but I'm recovering quickly from that addiction.

 

[daninjc]

Thanks for the reply, now I see your point and I agree with it.
I'm no expert on the topic of how and how much journalist are supported and funded, so I can't add much to what you say. I agree that next to headline-news (which will tend to be sensationalist and somewhat shallow) we need in-depth reportages that put these news into context, and that they require exceptional dedication, time, documentation and support for the journalists. Maybe I'm not as pessimistic as you, perhaps because this is not my bread and butter, but I also remember reading extremely good reportages on diverse topics/events that imho was well worth delving into.

i wouldn't argue that there are great photojournalists (and begrudgingly editors). i suppose the "sell the rag headline" issue is valid but my questions is about the repetitive nature of reportage in North America. there was a recent discussion on lightstalkers about one day where the same story line, shot be 3 different photographers ran in 3 different outlets. the photographs were scary in their similarity. this is not a rare event sadly.

i will never say stories like Haiti, Afghanistan and Egypt shouldn't be told. what i am asking is why the support is not there for folks who have been working on the social economic history that led up to these events?

Sudan today faces a very serious drought and famine. in the eyes of folks i know on the ground there it is an inevitable event. it will only grow worse should the country fracture. the only two people i know working there documenting this are on grants. when the bodies start to pile up i am sure the crews will descend en masse. who is providing us with knowledge to understand and hopefully prevent such events and who are disaster tourists? who should we be supporting?

i will be returning to West Africa this spring. i will be there to document the looming election in Nigeria and the events leading up to it. i have also been working there for years culminating in this years trip. i am going on a small grant and some maxed out credit cards. Nigeria is widely expected to fracture with a military coup being an "ideal" result. most who have knowledge about the situation there or first hand experience are predicting far worse. Nigeria has the largest standing army in Africa, is responsible for food supply to 80% of the region, exports 20-30% of North Americas crude imports and is quite frankly is in DEPP SH#@. if it fractures and civil war ensues (which almost every Nigerian will tell you is a certainty) it will be ugly and will certainly spill over into Niger and unstable Cameroon. the reasons for this looming tragedy remain poorly covered and most of us are ignorant to the situation. again, i am sure the crews will swoop in when the proverbial sh*$ hits the fan.

how does this serve us? body counts and front page scoops serve the industry as it croaks out its swan song but the global community is left in the dark until it is too late.

 

[filmfan]

I am in North America and neither myself or any of my friends have TVs... well maybe a couple do, but they are not connected to anything but a DVD player.

Anyways, I think this is a great thread so far.

 

[GSNfan]

The reason Afghanistan is in the news has to do with a lot of US soldiers being there as well as soldiers from many in the NATO alliance. The people in the NATO countries need to know why they're there and how's the war progressing.

And purely from photography point of view, Afghanistan is the holy grail for photojournalists, so its inevitable that even Larry Towell has to raise money on the internet to go there.

 

[Neare]

I hope this relates to the discussion -

I think photojournalism has slowly drifted further away from the neutral position that a photographer should have taken. I'm tired but always interested in looking through magnum galleries for example and noticing the political agenda's of each individual photographer. Photojournalism is the new age freedom of speech for the photographer themselves, whereas that was the publishers role, there is no need for Woodstock anymore - even the events in Egypt were sparking by nothing more than a single photo. Soft core doesn't affect people, so they get really controversial to the point of staging scenes. The amount of stories that come out of the middle east, twisting the story to fit agendas is getting really sickening, faking deaths, falsifying facts and using victims of completely unrelated events for the story itself.

Photojournalism is now an art from and no longer a form of legitimate reporting. The photographer must play entirely with peoples hearts not their heads, that is the only way forward when we have a population desensitised to world issues.

 

[sanmich]

John

I totally identify with what you say.
News are a show-business, and they sell drama.
In the best case, this drama is only a small portion of reality.
In the worst, as I could verify by myself a couple of times, it can be pure invention. And I am not talking about mentioning false facts, but a full length, detailed reportage, written at the first person, on a situation that never happened, in a very large, mainstream French newspaper.
The more remote the country depicted, and of course the more minor the incident depicted, the greater the chances that you are listening/reading a fiction.
I don't care about News photography.
How many times a picture have been used totally out of context because some interest required it. You mention the stereotypical pose of the lightly wounded guy....
I have come to wonder how many mickey mouse or Winnie the pooh dolls a war photographer can carry just to place on the rumbles of a building.
And if there is no freshly destroyed building, who care if you use a 20 years old ruin? as long as it carries what the boss wants?
who is going to check on this kind of small frauds?

I stick with minor-toned documentary photography.
something inside me makes me think that if no big money is made out of something, and if it's not the dramatic-kick-in-the-guts kind of thing, it may be cleaner and closer to reality.

 

[SimonSawSunlight]

John,
I agree. the problem is not photojournalism being dead, but tunnel vision, maximum profit orientated medium regulators that put it, and the recipients, in a coma. it's like Roland Barthes' darkest nightmare come true, reign of myths and empty words.
may I suggest http://www.foto8.com/new/ 8 magazine, I feel they offer a different take at journalism and did feature a couple of interesting stories (one about all the potential of the city of detroit for example 😉 )

 

[SimonSawSunlight]

btw, are there any 'alternative' photoreportages or the like, that show a little more or a different angle of what is happening in Egypt and the rest of northern africa?

 

[GSNfan]

brilliant link Simon, thanx. it also appears they are accepting submissions!

N. Africa has been poorly covered leading up to today. i suspect a LOT of people were caught by complete surprise. i think it's a culture of "what's happening now" over "what is about to happen". combined with it being VERY dangerous from about the northern reaches of Mauritania on down for Western Journalists, you end up with a void. it is interesting timing that you ask as i am pitching some work in the region right now. it is a petri dish for radical ideologies and if we don't pay close attention we will regret it. when i was in Niger (2010) there were parades in the streets celebrating Hezbollah and it's leadership. when you are feeding your kids dirt to stave off hunger and there are ZERO opportunities in the communities it isn't hard to convince them to direct there anger at someone else.

anyhow, i will poke about and see what other work i can dig up from the region.

I think the best you can do is to back up your hypothesis with some compelling pictures that will be noticed by major news corps.

 

[Tipton]

(i will never say stories like Haiti, Afghanistan and Egypt shouldn't be told. what i am asking is why the support is not there for folks who have been working on the social economic history that led up to these events?

Sudan today faces a very serious drought and famine. in the eyes of folks i know on the ground there it is an inevitable event. it will only grow worse should the country fracture. the only two people i know working there documenting this are on grants. when the bodies start to pile up i am sure the crews will descend en masse. who is providing us with knowledge to understand and hopefully prevent such events and who are disaster tourists? who should we be supporting?

i will be returning to West Africa this spring. i will be there to document the looming election in Nigeria and the events leading up to it. i have also been working there for years culminating in this years trip. i am going on a small grant and some maxed out credit cards. Nigeria is widely expected to fracture with a military coup being an "ideal" result. most who have knowledge about the situation there or first hand experience are predicting far worse. Nigeria has the largest standing army in Africa, is responsible for food supply to 80% of the region, exports 20-30% of North Americas crude imports and is quite frankly is in DEPP SH#@. if it fractures and civil war ensues (which almost every Nigerian will tell you is a certainty) it will be ugly and will certainly spill over into Niger and unstable Cameroon. the reasons for this looming tragedy remain poorly covered and most of us are ignorant to the situation. again, i am sure the crews will swoop in when the proverbial sh*$ hits the fan.)

how does this serve us? body counts and front page scoops serve the industry as it croaks out its swan song but the global community is left in the dark until it is too late.[/QUOTE]
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

As important as the precursors are up to the point of an actual "event" taking place/beginning, and for me, I think they're the most important part, the problem is, and it sounds quite bad, but they're not as "photogenic". I don't like that reality, but it seems that it's the truth. A pile of bodies will make a front cover, as you said, but the events, the starving, the droughts, or whatever the reasons leading up to it, won't, because I think they're hard to sum up in a few frames. You need a larger, widespread photo essay to fully portray those precursory events that are a little more subtle then that pile of bodies, and not many publications are going to devote print space to such a large piece. Only Nat Geo comes to mind when I think of things like that. I think it's bull$h17, because that pile of bodies is a direct result of what came before, but the image will punch the reader in the face, and a publication possibly doesn't feel the need to use up space explaining a large story, when they can throw in some gore and graphic conflict photos that everyone can instantly see and understand. (Understand obviously only the point that something has gone terribly wrong) Then afterwards you start to see more of the backstory, and that's usually just text.

How does it serve us? It's tough to say. We get the news when it's too late as you said, but that's what makes it news, not just an essay/story. For some things, that can't be helped. Like the B.P. spill, unless you were working on a docu about oil rig workers or something about rigs etc., you're hard pressed for a reason to be shooting and developing a story on that at the same time as that rig blew, so in that case, all we had was aftermath for visuals. Then came the backstory. I guess the other view is that, once the event has happened, photogs and editors etc. know what will be put front and center, but if you're out shooting a story for a year and nothing "big enough" happens at the end of it, no big conflict etc., then you're story will probably fall flat and in a way you've waisted a lot of time, because sadly for the most part, people won't pay attention until that **** has hit the fan.

For me, I think self publication online is one way to start. As well as books if there's enough content to be worth it. There are few outlets like you said, and the ones that are around are probably very hard to get into. I do like DAH's Burn Magazine online, and have seen some great essays there, as well as Geographic, but I think there needs to be something more, even if it's online content only, to serve as an outlet.

 

[SimonSawSunlight]

it's not the subject, it's how you do it. a lot of the big editors don't care about an upright journalistic report as much as they care about a dramatic picture. over and over and over again.