Photos are such a key part of journalism and often times it can be easy to just look past them. Pictures are just a part of the journalism and we almost expect to see it. People rarely think about just how important they are to a story of reporting in general. In fact some stories can be told through just pictures and these pictures can have a greater impact then any amount of words. Briggs writes about the importance of picture journalism in his book and I could not agree more. Images are such key components to journalism and it adds an irreplaceable component that draws people in.
Think about Instagram and how successful of a platform it is. The entire goal of the platform is to share pictures. Sometimes with captions, but often the captions do not make sense without a picture to go along with them. This platform is the perfect place for photo journalism to exist because the main goal is to upload photos. The photo will often speak for itself and the photo journalist just has to add a small caption. They can also share their photo instantly with billons of people. Instagram is so popular that slowly it is becoming the main social media platform. It provides people with a place to pretty much upload any type of photos they wish. Vacation photos, animal pictures, and news related are just some of the typical posts people can upload. With this platform photo journalists can reach so many people in such a short time and all they need is a smartphone. Smartphones have such good cameras now that they do not even need an on hand camera. They can just snap it on their phone and then instantly upload it for people to see.
Photos are so key to journalism and it is becoming easier for people to upload them for many to view. With Instagram being so popular journalists can share a photo with millions in a matter of minutes. Photos provide journalists with a physical image of what they are reporting on and can evoke emotions that words might not be able to capture. A picture is worth a thousand words and the more time that passes the easier it is to show people just how true that is. Instantly showing people a photo of the story is so valuable and allows journalists to share their photo journalism quickly.
http://www.niemanlab.org/reading/how-6-publishers-are-using-instagram-stories/
Mike's Corner 