Why Murdoch Running NatGeo Is Poison For What's Left Of Photojournalism - DeSmog Blog

[starroute]

5. I've been noticing this a lot lately, and it bugs the hell out of me

I see it particularly at The Guardian's US edition -- where you'd really hope they'd know better. And what it seems to amount to, besides lazy journalism, is squeezing the human and emotional elements out of stories and lessening their impact.

Here's a current story about increasing numbers of Americans accepting the reality of climate change: http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/oct/13/rising-numbers-of-american-believe-climate-science-poll-shows

It's illustrated by a photo of two girls walking past an Assembly of God church. The photo is connected with the California water shortages -- but you wouldn't know that without reading the caption. And it has no direct relationship to anything in the story.

Here's a story about a pending merger in the beer industry and its likely negative impact on consumers. It's illustrated by a picture of two six-packs. Nothing to remind you of monopolistic practices, exploitation of third world beer drinkers, or much of anything, really. http://www.theguardian.com/business/2015/oct/13/sabmiller-agrees-ab-inbev-takeover-68bn

Here's one titled "Credit scores in America perpetuate racial injustice." It's illustrated by a photo of a credit report. Once again, the human impact has been left out entirely. http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/oct/13/your-credit-score-is-racist-heres-why

This is nothing-to-see-here-move-on journalism. And it sucks.