ZachIsHere

acline August 31st, 2005 at 1:22 pm

Zach sent e-mail asking: “Do the photographers that take those pictures have control over the caption process? Do they direct that at all? I wasn’t sure if they just send in the pictures and let others do it or do it themselves. I wasn’t even sure if there is enough of a standard to answer the question. Thanks for your time, I would love to more!”

Good question. Answer: It depends.

A photojournalist is every bit as much a reporter as a notebook jockey. Any cutline would have to rely on the reporting done by the photog. That includes the obvious stuff. But it can also include any extra observations the photog cares to make. Generally, a photo editor or copy editor writes cutlines. At some news operations, reporters write them. It depends.

Now, are the cutlines cited on The Republic of T. an example of racism? I have no idea. It sure looks bad. But the camera only shows us a confined scene from a limited moment in time.

What else could it be? Perhaps the woman in the first photo isn’t alone, but a member of a group of people taking things from a store that have no immediate survival value. We can’t tell from the picture. But if this were so, the photographer might have indicated such to the copy desk using the term “looting” as opposed to “finding.”

Also, notice the differences between what the people are carrying. Is the top picture an indication of a person who doesn’t have a backpack and needs to use a garbage bag instead, or does she need the big bag to carry a lot of loot? Who knows?

The problem here is that we don’t have enough information. And that’s a silly problem to have considering the realities of the internet. Let’s see all the photos! Let the photographer write a description of the larger scene.

I doubt this is an example of overt (i.e. intended) racism. I think the cutlines are certainly unfortunate. I think they are more likely products of harried journalists working under difficult circumstances. But journalists need to remember: Just because someone interprets a journalistic message in a way not intended by the journalist doesn’t mean that interpreter’s experience isn’t real.

Ole September 2nd, 2005 at 1:11 am

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