Page 347 - Battleground The Media Volume 1 and 2

| Paparazz and Photograph c Eth cs

Moral Engagement
The portrayal of human suffering without a rational explanation or cause
poses another problem for photojournalism. When captions proclaim “vic-
tims of random violence,” or “political violence,” they elicit a particular re-
sponse, one of bewilderment. Instead of being able to take action to alleviate
the suffering, the viewer is frozen. Susan Sontag argued that the possibility of
being “affected morally” by the photograph requires a relevant political con-
sciousness. John Berger also pointed out that without a sociopolitical under-
standing, the viewer cannot act in a way that would prevent further suffering.
Know the cases and sources of conflict is essential to understanding how it can
be stopped. Chaotic violence in foreign countries becomes mystified without
an explanation of its causes and possible solutions. Such mystification leads to
vague assertions and a general sense of disgust. The countries become places
“at war with themselves,” of simply emblematic of violent cultures that do not
value life. As Susan Moeller pointed out in Compassion Fatigue, viewers can
only feel pity for so long without drawing the conclusion that the people are
simply “pitiful.”
Pictures that fail to explain violence accuses no one and everyone, the sense of
moral obligation that would lead to a commitment is gone. The assumed effects
of concerned photojournalism are nullified. As we lay the magazine down, the
image has become a corruption, a distancing, an acceptance of the way things
are. Each new photo layout positions the view now as a voyeur.

Photographs and Context
The visual image is a particular type of document. As time frozen, the photo-
graph remains a moment yanked from the historical flow that produced it. The
news photograph circulates through time and place, yet it is a moment frozen
in temporal space. Time captured by the camera as a single image can then be
placed into some other context: a news page, an art gallery, an anti-war pam-
phlet, or an assassin’s hand for identification purposes. This quality of the pho-
tograph enables it to be used to make a number of abstract points and convey a
variety of meanings. The news text can direct the photograph’s meaning in ways
that either evoke or block empathy for the dead.

Justifications
Pictures of dead bodies can be explained in numerous ways. Many news sto-
ries that contain images of suffering offer a variety of justifications for human
loss. Victims of violence often lose their humanity and become pawns in a game
of strategy of national interests; in whatever way those interests are articulated at
the time. With regard to war and conflict in foreign countries, arguments include
what would happen if the wrong people came to power, the overriding concern
that the country would fall into the hands of the wrong people. Innocent victims
caught in the cross fire become unfortunate but “necessary consequences” of
fighting for abstract principles such as security or our way of life.