Does the journalistic photograph need a context? : Rethinking contextual interpretation

Abstract

In times when photojournalists experiment with various forms of visual production and journalistic photographs are disseminated not only in the press, but at the photography festivals and in museums, the question about the role of context in photography interpretation should be revisited. Thus, this study provides critical review of the contextual interpretation of journalistic images, focusing on the production, medium and page context. The context of production is discussed here by referring to the quantitative content analysis and iconological context analysis. The context of medium determines the perception of photographs and provides a particular page context, usually limited to the caption. The critical evaluation of contextual studies of journalistic images leads to the conclusion that “picture plus text” is not the only option for the photography interpretation. The proposed solution is to use intertextuality as an approach, especially useful for visual education. Intertextuality is based on the claim that each text and photograph is a quotation from other texts. Hence, the viewer interprets journalistic photographs from the angle of their own cultural background, visual competence, and experience. This kind of interpretation may, however, lead to unpredictable and surprising results, and thus, not please traditional way of thinking about journalistic images.