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Abstract
Amateur photographs must fulfill specific standards if they are to be used in professional news media. These standards include news value, credibility, ethics and taste, as well as the technical and aesthetic quality of images. The research presented in this article explores the value of poor-quality photographs for the news industry, and the view that they can be good enough for certain news content. At the same time, this article reveals strong reservations regarding the incorporation of amateur photographs. The article asks whether such findings manifest necessary quality standards, or whether they constitute claims to defend the position of the professional news media. The data for this article were collected in 2010/2011 using observation, interviews and textual analysis.
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Notes on contributors
Kathrin Schmieder
Kathrin Schmieder completed her PhD on “The sourcing of amateur photographs in the professional news media” in January 2015. She is a research fellow at the Faculty of Health, Arts and Design at Swinburne University, Melbourne, Australia. Her research interests are photography, visual communication, and (new) media. E-mail: [email protected]