A Picture Tells a Thousand Words

Everyone has heard the saying "a picture tell a thousand words." It is an old adage, but holds a lot of truth. Visuals add something to a story that no amount of words can. Words can paint a picture, but pictures allow people to actually see it. This isn't just a belief or an opinion, it is actually fact. Your brain process information through two systems: the conscious system which usually processes verbal messages and the unconscious system that processes images and objects. It is through the unconscious system in which people can be seen valuing images more than words.

That being said when are images too gory, or inappropriate to show people? What happens if a child accidentally sees a photo on the news or on the cover of a magazine or newspaper? Will it force parents to have discussions with their kids that they simply were not ready to have?

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Some argue photos will make the story more of a phenomenon that what it already is. National affairs editor Mark Follman explains that media organizations, "need to make sure that photographs they publish of such killers and their crimes do not contribute to their self-mythologization."

According to news photographer Giulio Saggin, visual stories like an image are structured similarly to written stories. He further explains, "News stories have quotes. News photos have people." A simple quote, that can really explain the importance of a photo.

Photos from a war can help people actually understand the gravity of what is truly going on. For example, the Syrian Refugee crisis in 2015 was heard about in the states, but it was truly hard for people to understand when it seemed like American day-to-day life was not affected. Photographers took photos of the crisis and for the first time the world could see what a crisis it was. Families sleeping on roads with just a blanket, a soldier carrying a lifeless child's body from sea, people swimming from a dinghy to a beach looking exhausted, just to name a few.

Liz Sly, Beirut chief for The Washington Post argues that not releasing photos could possibly violate the victim's dignity. A photo can show what the victim experienced and suffered through that words cannot.

However, media organization have to find a balance between what photos to release and what shouldn't. Photos can add to the phenomenon of a story and possibly encourage a copy cat of the crime. Journalists have a job to minimize harm and keep the victims and their family in mind. What is considered too violent to be released versus what helps reader better understand the extent of the story, that's a call that editors and news organization have to make.

Journalist can tell a story, but photos can show a story. They add an element that words simply cannot. Visuals of people dying or fighting for their life have a different effect than someone putting words on a paper and telling readers that.

Journalists have the simple duties of being truthful and transparent. Photos can help. They help protect you as the journalist in backing up what you are saying, and the readers actually see the scene or event the journalist is describing.  Photos can also protect journalists from being accused of falsifying a story. If a journalist says something, and has the photo to back it up people cannot argue that is false.