The Power of Photography in the media

During our lecture with George Abdilla, we were given a query about an explorer and a writer. So the explorer and writer go to a new land and the explorer says he saw a red dragon and took back with him a painting of what he saw, on the other hand the writer says she saw a blue dragon and took back with her a photograph. So, who do you believe? The explorer has a reputation to say the truth, but his evidence is a painting that could be fake. The writer has a reputation of lying to make the story interesting, but her evidence is a photograph. Because the photograph is more believable, we believe the writer.

My take on this is that nowadays an image can also be manipulated but I would still believe someone who has a photograph, especially if it would be in an article. As Susan Sontag said in her book ‘On Photography’, “Photographs furnish evidence. Something we hear about, but doubt, seems proven when we’re show a photograph of it.” (Sontag, 1977). Sontag argues that a photograph is proof of something that occurred, and I agree with her. Take for example the protests that are going on in Catalan, there are a lot of images showing us what is happening. The images are also proof of the events.

I think we depend a lot on photography when it comes to the media whether it is for gossip or to share information. The first thing you see when something big happens is the photographs that prove what happened. The thumbnail of an article is usually an image. Therefore, a photograph can go a long way in the media, it’s the first thing we look for.

Screenshot of the thumbnails

Information Reference:

Sontag, S. (1977). On Photography. London, Great Britain: Penguin, p.5.

The Guardian. (2005). Illusions of grandeur. [online] Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2005/jun/25/photography [Accessed 14 Oct. 2019].

HIPA. (2012). THE ROLE OF A MEDIA PHOTOGRAPHER. [online] Available at: http://www.hipa.ae/en/media/photographia/40 [Accessed 14 Oct. 2019].

Medium. (2017). The Role of Photography Plays In The Media. [online] Available at: https://medium.com/@theuntitledher/the-role-photography-plays-in-the-media-1012102fd023 [Accessed 14 Oct. 2019].