The International Photojournalism Industry

How are events turned into news pictures that define them for the audience? How do events become commodified into pictures that both capture them and reiterate the values of the agencies that sell them? This book looks at every stage of the production of news photographs as they move to and from the ground and are sold around the world. Based on extensive fieldwork at a leading international news agency that includes participant observation with photographers in the field, at the agency’s local and global picture desks in Israel, Singapore, and the UK, in-depth interviews with pictures professionals, and observations and in-depth interviews at The Guardian’s picture desk in London, the findings in this book point to a wide cultural production infrastructure hidden from – and yet also nurtured and thus very much determined by – the consumer’s eye.

"Image Brokers is an in-depth ethnography that reveals the labor and infrastructure behind news images and how they are circulated. Zeynep Devrim Geursel presents an intimate look at the ways image brokers--the people who manage the distribution or restriction of images--construct and culturally mediate the images they circulate. Through this framework, news images become commodities that impact how politics and culture are visualized in the world. Set against the backdrop of the War on Terror and based on fieldwork conducted at the photojournalism industry's centers of power in New York and Paris, Image Brokers explores the transition from analog to digital technologies and shows how new digital and social media platforms continue to change photojournalism and create ever-widening distribution networks. The book is a powerful investigation of the processes of decision-making amid the changing infrastructures of representation."--Provided by publisher.

As the second book in the Routledge Journalism Insights series, this edited collection explores the possibilities and challenges involved in contemporary reporting of peace and conflict. Featuring 16 expert contributing authors, the collection maps the field of peace and conflict reporting in a digital world, in a context where the financial prospects of the news industry are challenged and professional authority, credibility and autonomy are decaying. The contributors, ranging from prominent scholars to the Head of Newsgathering at the BBC, discuss a diverse range of key case studies, including the role of Bellingcat in conflict journalism; war and peace journalism in Bangladesh; visual storytelling in conflict zones; and rampant cyber-misogyny confronting women journalists in Finland, India, the Philippines and South Africa. Bringing together theory and practice, the collection offers an in-depth examination of the changes taking place in the working practices of journalists as ongoing, strategic assaults against them increase. Insights on Peace and Conflict Reporting is a powerful resource for students and academics in the fields of global journalism, foreign news reporting, conflict reporting, globalisation, media and international communication.

How does a photograph become a news image? An ethnography of the labor behind international news images, Image Brokers ruptures the self-evidence of the journalistic photograph by revealing the many factors determining how news audiences are shown people, events, and the world. News images, Zeynep Gürsel argues, function as formative fictions – fictional insofar as these images are constructed and culturally mediated, and formative because their public presence and circulation have real consequences in the world. Set against the backdrop of the War on Terror and based on fieldwork conducted at photojournalism’s centers of power, Image Brokers offers an intimate look at an industry in crisis. At the turn of the 21st century, image brokers—the people who manage the distribution and restriction of news images—found the core technologies of their craft, the status of images, and their own professional standing all changing rapidly with the digitalization of the infrastructures of representation. From corporate sales meetings to wire service desks, newsrooms to photography workshops and festivals, Image Brokers investigates how news images are produced and how worldviews are reproduced in the process.

Discourse-based approaches to studying organizations have grown in significance over the last 25 years. This accessible and insightful book exemplifies how to use a discursive approach to study organizations. By drawing on her own empirical research, Cynthia Hardy aligns key theoretical assumptions with a range of case studies to demonstrate the value and adaptability of a discursive approach.

Running a Successful Photography Business is the definitive business bible for every professional photographer – a one-stop resource covering everything you need to know to make your business a success. This handy book contains guidance on the key areas of running your business: fine-tuning your brand, attracting new clients and keeping existing ones, costing and producing shoots, professional ethics and codes of practice, contracts, preparing a business plan, operating your business effectively, legal obligations, working with agents and agencies and how to evolve and prosper in this ever changing industry. Everything a working photographer needs to know in order for their business to flourish.Written from the unique point of view of a leading photographers’ agent, the author knows from first-hand experience what it takes to survive and succeed as a professional photographer. This book builds on the author's popular first book, Setting up a Successful Photography Business, aimed at those starting out in freelance photography.

Open your eyes to a new world view with 100 women and nonbinary photojournalists’ stories from behind the lens. 85% of photojournalists are men. That means almost everything that is reported in the world is seen through men’s eyes. Similarly, spaces and communities men don’t have access to are left undocumented and forgotten. With the camera limited to the hands of one gender, photographic ‘truth’ is more subjective than it seems. To answer this serious ethical problem, Women Photograph flips that bias on its head to show what and how women and nonbinary photojournalists see. From documenting major events such as 9/11 to capturing unseen and misrepresented communities, this book presents a revisionist contemporary history: pore over 50 years of women’s dispatches in 100 photographs. Each image is accompanied by 200 words from the photographer about the experience and the subject, offering fresh insights and a much-needed perspective. Until we have balanced, representative reporting, the camera cannot offer a mirror to our global society. To get the full picture, we need a diverse range of people behind the lens. This book offers a first step. Relearn how to see with this evergreen catalogue that elevates the voices of women and nonbinary visual storytellers.