What has been the impact of digital photography on journalism?

The most basic tactic used by newspapers to attract readers is the appeal of the product: design, photos used, etc. Digitalization has changed the demand how the information is presented, the page design, and the people who are behind the camera.

People want to read the news as soon as possible, thus there is a high pressure on photographers to publish. Being sad there is minimum or none time spent on editing, checking before submitting the photo. Photos are often taken just to illustrate the story, to attract viewers, but sometimes without capturing the more important aspects. People tend to care less about the quality of the photos, as long as they can access the news quickly.



The culture became more visual, thus there is a greater emphasis on images than text. “If you want to hook passing readers, photos are even more valuable than text. Photographs are essential for good design, and good design is essential for photos” (Harrower, 93). Basic design elements include full-color photographs for the front page, informational graphics to illustrate the news, packaging so that all themed content is easy to find and is already broken down for the reader (Harrower, 6). Before the digital revolution, newspapers had to use the lengthy darkroom process to produce photos. Photographers on the scene often used different cameras and spent hours shooting on film. Digitalization made photography cheaper, quicker, and easier.


Originally, a photojournalist was a professional with a degree, educational skills, and pricey equipment. Cheap digital cameras have eliminated the skill set used, thus now anybody who has a camera can be a photographer. Many of the photographs do not require a specialist, thus media companies are using photos taken by citizens too. The best example would be CNN’s iReport. Shooting by poor quality cameras from large distances is one of the negative impacts caused by untrained photojournalists.



Work Cited:
Harrower, Tim, ed. The Newspaper Designer’s Handbook. 6th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2007. Print.