GETTING CLOSER?

Abstract

Drawing on the idea that citizen images of crisis events can function as “ruptures” within mainstream journalistic narratives—instances in which distant others can speak and be heard—this article examines from a dual perspective how the global citizen images (photographs and videos) embedded in Finnish print and broadcast coverage of the Arab uprisings and the Japan tsunami disaster facilitate the construction of cosmopolitan imagination. Specifically it explores, first, how emotional proximity is constructed through the conventions of citizen images that break with the aesthetics of professional photojournalism, and, second, how professional journalists see the role of amateur images in their work of reporting distant crises. The analysis identifies four defining characteristics of the aesthetics of citizen images—unconstructedness, unconventional framing, mobility and embodied collectivity—which may invite enhanced affective engagement and reflection. Moreover, it reveals that the increasing significance of global citizen imagery prompts renewed internal reflection on established journalistic practices and norms, but this is not accompanied by a new consideration on the relationship between journalists and their audiences, on journalism as a resource for cosmopolitan attitudes.

Keywords:

• aesthetics
• citizen images
• closeness
• cosmopolitan imagination
• crisis reporting
• journalistic self-reflection
• national media

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to thank Laura Ahva and Graham Murdock for insightful comments on this study. Particular thanks to Sanna Ojajärvi and Minttu Tikka for their valuable contribution in collecting the data. I am grateful to the Helsingin Sanomat Foundation for providing the funds for this study, which is a part of my research project “Amateur Images—A Comparative Study on How User-generated Content is Shaping Journalism.”

Notes

1. The broadcasters are the public service broadcaster YLE and commercial broadcasters MTV3 and Nelonen (Channel 4) and newspapers Helsingin Sanomat, Ilta-Sanomat, Iltalehti and Aamulehti.

2. One reason for this might be that citizen photographers (in the context of political crises) are aware of the fact that mainstream news outlets prefer images that show background as it helps journalists to determine the veracity of the image.

3. Maria Hellman's and Kristina Riegert's (2010) study, which compares the role of transnational and national media in producing cosmopolitan empathy and identities by focusing on the coverage of the tsunami disaster by the transnational channel CNN and the Swedish national television channel TV4, raises an interesting question about the national language of the news. The Swedish respondents (although fluent in English) felt that English as the news language decreased the sense of proximity and emotional involvement with the mediated suffering.

4. Interviews with journalists point to the fact that most of the amateur imagery that Finnish news organizations receive through international news agencies is too graphic to show to a general public, or it can be shown only by using various distanciation techniques or distinguishing it as disturbing content.