Analysis of use of photographs in printed media.

The use of photograps in papers has been around ever since the camera has been around. Photographs are not placed there to fill up space (but sometimes are during a slow day), but rather to give the reader a sense of what it was like to be somewhere, or to give the reader first hand imagery of a war zone or a joyous occassion.

However pictures can also raise an ethical eyebrow. What is acceptable? Should you use a picture for sole gain irrespective of who you may hurt. Examples of situations like these include pictures of people who have been murdered, most recently in gangland crime. Pictures of gunshot victims have been available to a lot of editors, but most have refused to print them because of the people they may hurt.


Pictures also hold somewhat political power over the government. For example, the student marches attracted record numbers nearing 15000. These pictures show the public the extent to which the students are willing to fight. It was the same situation for the over 70s "grey army" walking down Kildare Street. Without appropriate pictures, much of the occassion might have been lost on your typical newspaper reader.