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The premise of my 16 years as a visual journalism scholar and educator is that visuals are more than just an aesthetic element. They help us tell better stories.
I joined more than 90 journalists and J-school educators in Utah Oct. 20-22 to take a deep dive into the practice of solutions journalism, exploring such topics as community engagement, trust in the media and story impact. Given the focus of my own research and teaching, as well as the multimedia focus of our j-program at the University of Oregon School of Journalism and Communication, the sessions on visually-driven solutions journalism piqued my interest.
“The idea is to make images that matter to the specific story, rather than seeking visuals afterward that ‘fit.'”
We know news media imagery can set the agenda and influence how audiences understand news topics. Research has demonstrated news stories are more likely to be placed on the front page if they have a compelling photograph. Moreover, imagery has been shown to evoke instant emotional reactions and to possess an “attention-grabbing capacity,” which can leave a lasting impression. Visual coverage is essential to reporting news, in comparison to early newspapers’ use of visuals as only supportive content for the written story.
It is also well known that the news media — whether through written, spoken or visual news —