Spreading current events and news stories throughout the world is one of the most important things done in our society. Journalism, the actual profession or act of writing news for a variety of platforms, is responsible for dispersing these topics to keep everyone informed of what exactly may be going on anywhere in the world. Sharing serious stories and conveying them in a productive manner is what makes journalism such a vital aspect of our world. Journalism makes it possible for us to read up on all the things we would otherwise have no clue about.
With this being said, photojournalism, the practice of communicating this news through photographs, is an even more important aspect when it comes to journalism. Through written news, we are able to read about what is happening in the world around us. However, through photographs, we are able to actually see for ourselves exactly how people are being affected. The phrase as old as time, "a picture is worth a thousand words," illustrates this importance perfectly. While an article could have multiple paragraphs going on about this event, we could have just one or two photos, showing us everything we need to know and more.
The way in which a photo can convey so many things: events, emotions, severity. Sometimes a photo is capable of communicating things we would never be able to with our own words. The power of actually being able to see a scene with our own eyes as opposed to simply reading it is so much greater. Without photography and those who take the time to travel to these serious or devastating scenes, the impact of these events on our lives would never be as incredible as they are with them.
Overall, photojournalism is an extremely underappreciated aspect of our news and media outlets. Journalism itself is a vital part of our society, but the even more detailed field of photojournalism is something we would not be able to live without. The ability to see events we are not personally living through ourselves allows us to feel more connected to our society, and maybe even make us realize we are closer to this news than we may think.
