Transformation of photojournalism practice in the Czech Republic in the age of digital technology

Abstract

This study investigates the impact of digitalization on the photojournalistic profession and its transformation during the last two decades. The development of digital technology and the Internet by the end of the 20th century has brought several questions to the field of photojournalism and impacted the entire process of photojournalistic material production. Taking the example of the Czech Republic, we examine how photojournalists and photo editors perceive the changes brought on by the adoption of digital technology and how news routines, photojournalistic practices, image content, and professional identity have been reshaped. We conducted in-depth interviews and surveys with 48 photojournalists and photo editors from different Czech news media and magazines. The findings show how Czech photojournalists evaluate the state of their profession after digitalization. We also discuss a new way of image taking, so-called ‘cinematic shooting’, the ‘myth of acceleration’, and new responsibilities laid upon visual news professionals.

Keywords

Analog photography digitalization photojournalism visual journalism

Introduction

During the last two decades, photojournalism has undergone one of the largest changes since the invention of photography. Digitalization has impacted the entire process of photojournalistic material production. This article aims to describe the impact of digitalization on the photojournalistic profession. Taking the example of the Czech Republic, we examine how the changes brought on by the adoption of digital technology have reshaped routines, practices, content, and photojournalistic identity. Our research takes place during a time when the majority of photojournalistic material is produced by digital technology, that is, 98 percent (Burgett, 2014).

On one hand, digitalization involves technical and equipment issues; on the other, it imposes a new set of newsroom routines and practices (Klein-Avraham and Reich, 2014). It requires photojournalists to develop multimedia skills (Bock, 2008; Campbell, 2013; Greenwood and Reinardy, 2011) and increases workload (Yaschur, 2012b). Furthermore, the position of photography in today’s society, its function, content, and use are also questioned (Patrick and Allan, 2013). This article follows various studies on the transition of the photojournalistic profession; however, the majority of recent research reflects the situation in a North American, specifically a US, context. We wish to enrich existing studies by adding a Czech case. There has been a lack of attention paid to photojournalism in the field of Czech academic research, and this article introduces pioneering research of such kind.

We consider the Czech case particularly interesting because photography and photojournalism have a long tradition in the Czech Republic (and former Czechoslovakia). Its development after World War II (WWII) was interrupted after the communist takeover in 1948. After two decades of restricted production limited by strict ideological demands, new publication platforms and new generation of Czech photojournalists appeared during the 1960s, such as Josef Koudelka (the only Czech member of Magnum Agency), Marketa Luskacova, Pavel Dias, and Leos Nebor. After the invasion of Warsaw Pact armies in 1968, the freedom of Czechoslovakia media and photojournalism remained limited until the end of the 1980s. Photographers who documented the Velvet Revolution in 1989 became leading photojournalists working for major independent newspapers. Photojournalism became an integral part of many newsrooms and the number of photojournalists rose significantly.

The rise of digital technologies and online media was followed by the biggest changes in the field of visual journalism. Despite the fact that many new newspapers and magazines appeared on the market, and the production of visual material multiplied, there is a lack of experienced photo editors in most Czech newsrooms. The highest standards of photojournalism today are represented by national newspapers, such as the mainstream daily Mladá fronta Dnes and liberal daily Lidové noviny (both published by MAFRA – the biggest publishing house in the Czech Republic), the left wing daily Právo, the economic and rather conservative daily Hospodářské noviny, and the weekly opinion magazines Respekt (politics and economics), Týden (politics and economics), Euro (economics), and Reporter (investigative and independent journalism). Each of these media outlets runs online webpages. They keep a regular photo department with a standard employee hierarchy that works for both the print and online versions.

Literature review

Photo production, multitasking, and responsibility

In their recent research on the impact of digitization on Israeli photojournalism, Klein-Avraham and Reich (2014) point out that the adoption of digital technologies together with current economic realities has affected the entire process of photojournalistic material production, including the way photographs are captured, edited, chosen, archived, and accessed. Photojournalists are not limited by material: with digital cameras, they can immediately review their pictures, delete and retake them if they wish (Davenport et al., 2007), and can send their photos instantly to the newsroom no matter where they are.

Also, thanks to digital technology, any element of a photograph can be easily improved, added upon, or modified. The almost undetectable manipulation of digital images raises the issue of reliability and ethics in photojournalism (Brennen, 2010: 75; Knightley, 2003). The ‘photographic proof’, previously guaranteed by the original matric that would prove the origin of the photograph, has disappeared (Láb and Turek, 2009: 51). Greer and Gosen (2002) conclude that the increased level of digital alteration negatively affects credibility and public attitudes toward a news photo, photography in general, and the news media. Yet, photojournalistic ethics remain an unsettled issue. Brennen (2010) specifically investigates the veracity of digital journalistic imaging, its authenticity, and the responsibility for the content of photographs. Literature often claims that what counts as a manipulation and what counts as routine practice depend on the context (Láb and Lábová, 2009; Reaves, 1991, 1995). Reaves (1995) suggests that the tolerance for digitally manipulated images depends on the category of photographs. Some level of digital adjustments is more likely to be accepted when concerning feature and photo illustrations, but not spot news photography. More recent studies are in line with past literature. For example, results of research conducted by Fahmy et al. (2005: 12) suggest that photo editors favor certain alterations, such as color enhancement. Láb and Lábová (2009) add a Czech example to the discussion, classifying digital manipulations and mapping ethical norms for photojournalism in the Czech Republic.

Photojournalists are expected to master new technology and learn multimedia skills often with limited support from the news organization they work for. Past literature on digital imaging and its impact on photojournalism (Russial, 2000) reports that digital imaging increased the workload of photo departments and with production becoming a higher priority resulted in added burdens. In more recent research, Russial (2009) and Santana and Russial (2013) argue that the majority of US photojournalist and photo editors are doing multimedia work. This might suggest some movement away from specialization, but Santana and Russial point out that most have accepted their expanded role. However, increased workload and pressure, staff reductions, and organizational focus on quantity over quality might lead to job dissatisfaction (Yaschur, 2011). In addition, as Greenwood and Reinardy (2011) have found, newspapers rarely provide photojournalists with necessary training in multimedia skills.

Digital technology and an online environment also increase editing duties. With instant control over the images and the possibility of deleting photographs on location, photojournalists assume the role of picture editor (Zavoina and Reichert, 2000). Similarly, Fahmy and Smith (2003) point out that limited storage and archiving issues force photographers to delete images on location and thus perform editing tasks. Klein-Avraham and Reich (2014) examine how the selection of frames – the initial gatekeeping – has been delegated to photojournalists. Thus, the photographers, on one hand, may have greater control over their published photos, while, on the other, jurisdiction and oversight become limited. Newton (2009a, 2009b) investigates how the changes in routines may result in lower quality standards; journalists may be forced to spend more time handling technology and dealing with the additional responsibilities rather than producing quality content.

An extensive number of studies deal with online journalism. Pavlik (2000) argues that digital technology and the Internet have changed the journalistic practice overall, its content, and newsroom structure. Deuze (2007), on the other hand, argues that technology is not an independent factor influencing journalism and that it should be perceived in terms of implementation. Klinenberg (2005) examines how reporters and editors deal with constraints of time, space, multitasking, and market pressure under regimes of online news making. Also, acceleration has become one of the key features of online journalism (Rosenstiel, 2005). Online journalists are expected to produce more material in a shorter time (Klinenberg, 2005) and carry out multiple tasks at the same time (Deuze, 2004). Bock (2008) reports that the Internet has forced news organizations to demand that their photographers shoot and edit video in addition to producing still images. Most of the pressure is driven by economics rather than creativity and might, according to Bock, negatively affect the quality of news production.

Based on a theoretical framework dealing with photo production, digital post-production, multitasking, and responsibility, we formulate two research questions. The first research question aims to identify the key characteristics of the transition from analog to digital technology as perceived by the photographers and photo editors. It should also reveal how these key characteristics have affected photojournalistic practice and routines when concerning the actual production and post-production, such as digital editing and possibilities of image alterations in news photography. The second research question addresses how the photographers perceive these changes and their impact on the overall quality of photo news production:

RQ1. According to the photojournalists and photo editors, what are the key characteristics and aspects of the transition from analog to digital technology when concerning photojournalistic material production and post-production?

RQ2. How do photojournalists and photo editors perceive the change and the way digital technology has impacted the overall quality of photo news production?

Challenges and competition

According to extensive research on the state of news photography conducted by Hadland et al. (2015), the average photojournalist in 2015 is a self-employed well-educated man aged 30–50 years, who relies upon media companies to earn a living. He usually works alone, shooting video and writing articles occasionally. However, several authors have pointed out that with the adoption of digital media, democratization of the imaging media, and financial pressures, the necessity of the professional photojournalist might be called into question. Digital technology gives the feeling that anybody with a camera-equipped smartphone, simple compact camera, or digital single-lens reflex (DSLR) camera can produce pictures as good as any professional’s. Patrick and Allan (2013) highlight that with the democratization of the imaging media and intense financial pressure, it is becoming increasingly difficult for many newsrooms to sustain full-time professional photo departments. Bock (2008) argues that much of the pressure is not driven by creativity but economics (p. 178). As a result, photojournalists are becoming less specialized in their expertise. Additionally, writing reporters take increasing numbers of news photographs.

With most of the world population having direct access to the Internet, those who are considered readers and consumers of mass media might also easily become news producers (Allan, 2007, 2013a, 2013b; Kobré, 2008). Thus, several scholars have examined the practice and use of citizen photojournalism or, as Allan (2013b) calls it, ‘citizen witnessing’. Mortensen (2011) investigates the ethical dilemmas and the lack of editorial procedures when using citizen photojournalism as a unique source. The content quality and working practices of eyewitness imagery may also be called into question. For instance, Yaschur (2012a) argues that the level of experience and training of professional and citizen photojournalists and random witnesses affect the coverage of news event on four levels. Citizen photojournalists and amateurs also tend to take pictures of situations they consider of high importance (Liu et al., 2009).

Our third research question aims to investigate who today’s photojournalists are, how they cope with the outlined challenges and perceive their role as media professionals, and whether they feel endangered by the rising competition from amateur photographers:

RQ3. Who are today’s photojournalists in the Czech Republic, and how do photojournalists and photo editors perceive their roles under current conditions?

Method

The dataset considered in this article represents a subset of large research on the state of photojournalism in Central European countries. The main source of data is based on semi-structured interviews with photographers and photo editors employed at printed and online Czech dailies and weeklies. Responses from interviews are supported by data from a survey we conducted with these interviewees.

The Czech media landscape comprises public (national TV, radio, and news agency) and private profit-oriented news organizations. The media market is dominated by seven national dailies that make up two-thirds of the newspaper market, and with their web mutations, they also dominate the online news media market. The leading daily is a tabloid Blesk, followed by the national newspapers Mladá fronta Dnes and Právo, the regional press Deník, the newspapers Lidové noviny and Hospodářské noviny, and the sport daily Sport. All of the national daily print newspapers with their online mutations, mentioned above (except the tabloid Blesk), were included in the study. Additionally, exclusively the online daily Aktualne.cz and four leading opinion weekly magazines (Euro, Respekt, Reflex, Týden) were also included in the study. The selection of leading print media was based on circulation. Thus, the interviews dealt with practices at print media ranging in circulation from 33,000 to 300,000, half of them with a circulation of at least 100,000. Local dailies and weeklies were excluded from the survey as their average circulation is smaller than 20,000, and many of them do not have a regular photo department.

We conducted 48 in-depth face-to-face interviews¹ with freelance photojournalists (2 persons), full-time photojournalists (38 persons), and photo editors (8 persons) from 12 different Czech national print daily newspapers, online daily newspapers, and weekly opinion magazines; 23 interviewees worked both before and after the beginning of the digitization process. A maximum of four journalists from one newsroom were interviewed. Following Johnstone’s et al. (1976) definition, journalists are media professionals who have some level of editorial responsibility for the content they produce. The photojournalists and photo editors in our research are thus considered news professionals with at least 7 years of experience working as photojournalists or photo editors, whose main source of income is from production of visual news content.

The field research was divided into two periods: (1) from March to June 2014 and (2) from September 2014 to January 2015. The interviews were semi-structured with open-ended questions and a survey. They were conducted face to face or by telephone/Skype and lasted between 60 and 90 minutes. The interviewees were notified they could refuse to answer any question and were assured that participation was voluntary and that responses would remain anonymous.

The semi-structured interviews contained 11 open-ended questions that focused on the transition from the analog to digital medium, and covered all stages of photojournalistic production. The fully standardized survey contained 86 questions that included personal information, the size and condition of the photo department, the photo and editorial process, equipment, photographic material, ethics, photo captions and accompanying texts, job satisfaction, and working abroad.

To analyze the data collected, we used mixed techniques. The open-ended responses were recorded and transcribed to allow in-depth content analysis and provide valuable contextual information (Gaskell, 2000). We used qualitative approaches based on opened and axial coding to analyze and interpret open-ended responses (Saldaña, 2012).

Findings

Photo production process

All of our respondents use digital cameras for their work today. Respondents identified a new sense of unlimited material as one of the main differences affecting their work since the transition to digital photography. This corresponds with the results of Klein-Avraham and Reich (2014). Once memory cards storing hundreds of photographs replaced film negatives with a limited number of frames, photojournalists started to take several times more photos while working on one topic. Our respondents said that today they take approximately 250–500 photos depending on the topic, whereas film negatives allowed them to take approximately 72 photos (two rolls of 35 mm negatives). Unlimited material in combination with high-speed continuous shooting enables the photojournalist to take pictures in a rather cinematic way. A photo editor from a print and online daily newspaper (interviewed Prague, 13 January 2015) explained,

Photographers think less about the right shots and compositions. It is possible to shoot continually and choose the best picture during computer post-production. Sequences bring photography closer to cinematic recording.

A cinematic way of shooting is a significant departure from traditional photography. Henri Cartier-Bresson (1952) talked about the decisive moment – the second the photographer sees the best composition and must intuitively know when exactly to click the shutter. However, photojournalists working with digital photo equipment and using continuous shooting can avoid the decisive moment altogether by taking five pictures a second of the same scene and searching for the right shot later during post-production. This cinematic method of shooting has also changed the way frames are selected. The first selection happens during and instantly after shooting, with 83 percent of our respondents (photojournalists) sorting their images in their cameras. Photojournalists can review single images on the screen of their digital cameras; therefore, they can easily delete and retake photos over and over again until they reach good or publishable results. Six respondents pointed out that the instant photo review eliminates the moment of surprise. A photojournalist working for a print and online daily newspaper (interviewed Prague, 22 May 2014) commented on the instant control over taken images:

With the display of digital cameras there are no surprises and the photographer has better control over the published images. I can control my images instantly after shooting and, thus, the first selection is made on the camera.

With more photographs taken, photo selection has consequently become more demanding and time-consuming. Photojournalists and photo editors often have to decide between similar photographs taking into account only the slightest differences. In this study, 33 percent of photographers interviewed spend between 10 and 20 minutes selecting images from one shooting, 25 percent select images for 20–30 minutes, and 28 percent need more than 30 minutes. A photojournalist from a daily newspaper (interviewed Prague, 31 March 2014) asserted that there is a lack of experienced photo editors:

Published photographs are selected from hundreds. News media need experienced photo editors who are able to choose the best pictures. Unfortunately, there are not enough of them.

Photojournalists admitted they edit at least 98 percent of selected images before submitting them. Editing a single photograph takes 2.2 minutes on average. Photographers mostly use JPEG file format (55%), which is faster for processing, while 45 percent of photographers use RAW format for higher quality, which also needs more time for ‘developing’ on the computer screen. Thus, almost all photographs published in the Czech news media today have been edited with some kind of photo software, mostly Adobe Photoshop. Common editing practices may include cropping, exposure compensation, levels, curves, contrast, sharpening, and color enhancement. According to a photojournalist working for a weekly magazine, those computer alterations are fully acceptable. In contrast with past literature (Fahmy et al., 2005), he supposes that using them is even an unavoidable approach (interviewed in Prague, 15 October 2014):

It is an auxiliary tool, which highlights and underlines the visuality of the image. It is similar to the adjustments in the darkroom. The image is just being cleaned.

Photojournalists and photo editors approve of other digital alterations only in some contexts and under specific conditions. Regarding hard news, the majority of respondents do not approve of any other alterations than the common practices. On the other hand, benevolence toward digital alteration of lifestyle, soft news, and illustration photography is considerably wider – starting with simple retouching and ending with photomontage. This finding is in line with past literature (Gladney and Ehrlich, 1994; Reaves, 1993).

Apart from the public service media, Czech news organizations often have very vaguely defined policies and news standards. Most Czech media do not have any Code of Ethics dedicated to visual materials, usually only stating quite general phrases about objectivity, professionalism, and so on. Also, only four of our respondents are members of professional associations that may require their members to comply with a Code of Ethics. Regulation of digital editing therefore depends solely on codes self-imposed by photographers or photo editors themselves. Respondents stressed they did not make any further improvements and changes than the darkroom would allow to avoid the violation of professional and ethical norms.

The relationship between text and pictures has also changed. After frames are selected and edited, they must be properly described using captions, keywords, and metadata to assist in effective searching, archiving, and understanding. Yet again, it is often the author of the photograph who is responsible for creating the contextual and textual information. Interviewees suggested that the caption has become even more important as more general images are being published. A photo editor from an online daily (interviewed Brno, 10 April 2014) said,

Text is gaining importance; in some cases the captions are as important as the photographs themselves.

Digitalization, as a general term, is often used synonymously with the overall acceleration within the media context and news production. The characteristics of photojournalism tend to connect digitalization and acceleration even more obviously. Immediate control over images as a new key feature allows photojournalists to finish assignments more quickly, knowing they have successfully captured what they wanted. There are no limits to the amount of images taken and photographers are not required to change film after every 36 frames, thus eliminating the need to count frames. Images can be transmitted wirelessly straight from the camera during the shooting and rapidly edited on computers.

Surprisingly, our respondents also talked about an ‘illusion of speed’. Whereas every aspect of photographic production has significantly sped up, the overall process, according to respondents’ opinions, takes in the end almost equal time as the traditional film-based process. A photojournalist from a daily newspaper (interviewed Prague, 9 May 2014) explained,

Overall acceleration is a myth. In fact it has affected only some parts of the process. Sometimes, I even have the feeling I spend more time working with photographs in computer software than I used to spend in labs.

The illusion of speed might have roots in photojournalists’ quick capabilities during each stage of the process of production combined with their work under constant heavy stress. However, with new responsibilities laid upon photographers in a digital environment, they spend more time selecting and editing images and creating captions. Thus, the photographers spend substantial time in front of computer screens. Newton (2009a, 2009b) finds a similar conclusion that photographers may be forced to spend time dealing with additional responsibilities and handling technology rather than producing quality content.

In the analog era, the whole production process of photojournalistic material was strictly structured. Photographers took photos and brought the negatives into the lab. Then, photo editors sometimes in cooperation with the photographer or writing reporter made the selection, did basic editing, and wrote the captions. However, digital technology, the vast amount of visual material published, and lack of skilled photo editors have given the photojournalist new responsibility, as other studies have already proved (Fahmy and Smith, 2003; Russial, 2009; Santana and Russial, 2013). On the other hand, concentration of responsibilities solely upon the photographer has the potential to lower the overall quality of selected and published photographs as it necessarily limits perspectives on the photographs inspected. Also in the Czech Republic, photographers have been delegated the role of a gatekeeper who decides which photos are to be published. According to our results, 91 percent of photographers are expected to do at least basic selection, editing, and description of their photographs. Delegation of editorial responsibilities upon photographers is even greater in online news media. One photojournalist from an online daily (interviewed Prague, 21 November 2014) commented on increased workload and responsibilities:

I am in charge of editing, choosing, and describing the images for publication. That would never have happened with analog. I would simply bring films into the lab and never think about them again.

Image quality

With the transition from analog to digital technology, photojournalism experienced dramatic technical improvement in photographic equipment. Improved features, such as faster autofocus, auto exposure, auto white balance, and incredibly higher sensibility and contrast, have not only affected the formal quality of news photography but also diminished the skills required of photojournalists. A photojournalist from a weekly opinion magazine (interviewed Prague, 26 September 2014) stated,

Even a cheap DSLR camera may offer better quality than film SLR cameras. It is easier to focus, photograph movement or take pictures under poor light conditions.

Technical quality and the creation of large amounts of visual news material, however, have often come at the expense of picture and content quality. Shooting continually with no material limitation results in photo overproduction. Photojournalists, in their words, wait less for the right moment to press the shutter and would rather choose the best picture among similar photographs during post-production. The majority of respondents admitted they prefer continuous shooting over a single shot despite giving up on outstanding images. A photojournalist from a print and online daily newspaper (interviewed Prague, 2 May 2014) stressed,

With popularization and accessible digital technology photography has been degraded to the level of communal scrap. Today, there is a total lack of iconic or even outstanding photographs. Visual material in news media or on the Internet is very similar.

The conditions of online news media not only necessitate each article to have at least one picture but also favor quantity over quality of visual material (Zavoina and Reichert, 2000). The economic logic of online news media, financially dependent on advertisements, requires news servers to create large readerships proven by the numbers of clicks and time spent by the reader on each page. Thus, online picture galleries with an unlimited number of frames can serve as ‘click farms’ gathering clicks for advertisement agents. Initial gatekeeping and selection of pictures are thus often subordinated to this logic. Our respondents pointed out that the number of published photographs in print and online news media varies significantly. Whereas a photo story published in print media usually consists of 5–10 of the best photographs, an online gallery can republish the same photo story with an additional 40 frames. A photojournalist from a print and online daily (interviewed Prague, 10 June 2014) commented on the number of photographs in an online photo gallery: a rather pessimistic opinion was held by about 30 percent of interviewees. A photojournalist from an online daily (interviewed Prague, 4 December 2014) said,

Sometimes there are [in online photo galleries] pictures that are totally unimportant. They act mostly as links of picture narrative, like a crutch or connector in the text. Unfortunately, there is also often not a single shot that could stand alone as a representative of the whole story.

Respondents expressed that they hardly ever work on topics of their choice. Usually appointed two or three assignments a day, they are rarely allowed to spend more than 1 day working on one assignment. Photojournalists thus have less or no time to work in traditional photojournalism formats, such as photo essays (more than 73% of photographers are not doing any), reportages, and documentaries. They consider spot and flash news (68%) the majority of photojournalistic material published today, and about 45 percent of photographers very often shoot portraits.

Interviewees also suggested that at least two-thirds of the photojournalist material created today – approximately 65 percent – is produced as general illustration material rather than independent visual (photojournalistic) content referring to a specific topic. The format of image-centered online media especially requires each article to have at least one opening feature image. The vast amount of visual material then brings both printed and online newspapers closer to magazine-style design, and may contrast with the content quality of published images. A photojournalist from a daily newspaper (interviewed Prague, 4 June 2014) commented on the role of photographs in the press:

We use photographs for any content and it does not really matter what the picture is about. I have a feeling people pay less and less attention to the content of the image and do not think about it.

Respondents underlined that the demand for rather general visual material that can accompany several different topics also changes the process of image taking. A photojournalist working for print and online daily newspapers (interviewed Prague, 7 April 2014) said,

Let’s say I am at a government press conference. I will spend most of the time getting as many different photos of state representatives as possible. I will also spend some time taking pictures of the governmental building, both exteriors and interiors. The news organization I work for requires me to do so. Such visual material can be used over and over again for different stories.

The lower picture and content quality connected with the high number of photographs published concerns online news media more than print newspapers. An online photo gallery might not only serve for harvesting clicks but can also lead to certain visual clichés, such as favoring a horizontal format over a vertical one to better fit the computer screen, or shooting images with larger details for clear visibility at lower resolution and as thumbnails. Similarly, Bock (2008) mentions increased workload might negatively affect the quality of news production (while it can be economically enticing for a news organization).

Photojournalists, job satisfaction, and competition

Who are Czech photojournalists? Field photojournalism still largely remains a male profession, mostly because it is physically hard work requiring carrying heavy equipment (more than 87% of photographers are men). Women commonly work as photo editors. Concerning photojournalists’ education, about 25 percent of our respondents finished a master’s degree (30% in the field of photography). Despite the skepticism often expressed during the interviews, most of the photojournalists work on a full-time contract (80% of respondents) and only about 12.5 percent work as freelancers. Nearly 80 percent of the photographers work for print and online media at the same time, 10 percent for print only, and about 5 percent of respondents for online only. Half of our respondents work for only one media outlet, about 22 percent work for two media outlets, and the rest for even more. Paid jobs other than photography are performed by 22.5 percent of respondents.

Accessible digital technology and the resultant diminished skill requirements of photographers have changed the profession of photojournalism and raised new competition. With the increasing quality and ubiquity of mobile phone cameras, taking pictures has become an intrinsic part of our culture. Higher production of visual material in general lowers the prices of single photographs, and photojournalists are expected to produce more images. A photo editor from a news agency (interviewed Prague, 9 May 2014) explained,

Prices of photographs produced by our news agency are much lower than 10 years ago. We are forced to produce and sell more images. On the other hand, the demand for photographs has risen significantly. So, paradoxically, the agency does have better profit.

Obviously, it is impossible for a news organization to have their photojournalists cover every single story. News organizations have several options when facing the rising demand for visual material. The phenomenon of citizen journalism or citizen witnessing (Allan, 2013b) might be one of them. Our respondents, however, did not feel threatened by citizen witnesses equipped with cell phone cameras and simple digital cameras. They instead questioned the quality of photographs produced by non-journalists, their lack of education, and ethical concerns related to the non-professional backgrounds of the authors. Also, the photo editors interviewed agreed the amount of published citizen photojournalism in the Czech Republic is very low.

Respondents also felt comfortable with news organizations buying images from freelancers, news agencies, and photo banks as an integral part of the news business. The biggest perceived threat seems to come from their colleagues in newsrooms, writing reporters equipped with digital cameras, and cell phones. More than 75 percent of newsrooms send writing reporters to also take images for their stories. The increasing number of writing/photographing reporters has been due to both accessible digital photo technologies, on one hand, and the economic crisis and personnel reduction of newsroom staff, on the other. Half of the respondents deemed the number of journalists working exclusively with visual material in their newsroom insufficient. They also highlighted that the number of writing/photographing reporters has increased dramatically in recent years. A photo editor from an opinion magazine (interviewed Prague, 9 December 2014) professed,

I do not remember having any writing and photographing reporter colleagues 12 years ago. At the moment DSLR cameras started to offer good picture quality for a reasonable price they became an integral part of the equipment for all reporters.

According to our respondents, readers hardly ever distinguish between photographs produced by photojournalists and writing/photographing reporters. A photojournalist from a daily newspaper (interviewed Prague, 6 January 2015) said,

As a news photographer I feel slightly endangered. All of my writing reporter colleagues are equipped with smartphones, some of them even have DSLR cameras. Their photographs are published alongside mine. I do not remember that there were writing/photographing reporters in the analog era.

However, not all respondents shared a pessimistic opinion. One photo editor from a daily newspaper (interviewed Prague, 6 May 2014) remarked on the threat photojournalists might face:

Honestly, an amateur photographer could never compete with the professionals who can deal better with photo technique, composition, and software. There are only a few situations in which amateur photography should be published in the media – such as for authenticity.

Photojournalists’ satisfaction with their profession has changed. The majority of our respondents expressed certain nostalgia for ‘better old times’ when photojournalism used to be perceived as a prestigious job and appreciated within society. Although working in solid positions (on full-time contracts), the monthly wages of Czech photojournalists and photo editors are slightly below the national average. Czech photographers thus often feel unappreciated, undervalued, submissive, and ignored. This corresponds to Yaschur’s (2011) findings about photographer job dissatisfaction.

Conclusion

Based on the example of the Czech Republic, our objective was to describe the recent development of photojournalism and explore how photojournalists and photo editors perceive the impact of the digital revolution on their profession. The nature of professional photojournalism did change significantly after the advent of digital technologies. Digital cameras enable photographers to work under poor light conditions, produce high-resolution images, and more easily photograph quickly moving objects, among other capabilities. Smart digital photo equipment has affected the overall process of image taking and made it unprecedentedly easy. Compared to the analog era, picture taking changed significantly: it is now faster, more efficient, and simpler. New sophisticated digital features, such as instant visibility and immediate processing, are like a combination of the Kodak and Polaroid revolutions but cheaper. The digital revolution has also influenced formal image quality, as well as content, types of images, prevailing genres, ways of presentation, and job satisfaction.

Despite the specificities of the Czech media landscape (the transformation of the media landscape 25 years ago, recent changes in ownership structure, a small market, etc.), the development of Czech photojournalism follows global trends. At the same time, our article adds new findings.

Based on our findings, we propose that the ideal of the golden age of photojournalism when the lurking photographer captures the climax of events – the decisive moment – has been replaced by a cinematic way of continuous image taking. This is allowed by the combination of high-speed shooting (burst mode) and virtually unlimited material. The best single images are selected from among a vast amount of almost similar frames during post-production. We consider this to be a revolutionary change with deep impact on the way news images are produced and the content is shaped. It reshapes the paradigm of 20th century photojournalism, mostly defined by 35 mm film and the decisive moment concept.

A cinematic way of shooting and way of seeing is part of the overall process of approximation of still and moving images. Since all DSLR cameras are capable of recording high-definition (HD) video material, many Czech photographers also work as videographers, shooting still images and video content as well. These tendencies of blending the border between still and moving images are in line with the other trends in entertainment-oriented services, such as Apple’s Live Photos (animated photographs, a hybrid between a short video and still image), or the social network Vine (user shared 6-second-long looping video clips).

Different ways of seeing and shooting have resulted in new working habits and practices. Photographers can review taken pictures immediately on the display of their digital cameras and therefore shoot more images and delete many of them while still on assignment. Our respondents mentioned there were neither surprises nor adventures as when waiting to see photographs after film processing in the analog era. Digital photo equipment, that is in general cheaper and easier to use than its analog predecessors, allows capturing of technically good images with minimum professional knowledge and has diminished skill requirements. Online news media’s requirements influence the formal quality of today’s photojournalism, such as the domination of a horizontal format which better fits computer screens, or the absence of detailed photographs that are difficult for readers to read when looking at a small thumbnail.

A feeling of unlimited material results in the production of a vast amount of visual material and challenges the content quality of single frames. Many photographs tend to be similar. Respondents identified a lack of iconic, outstanding, or even strong images that could stand as independent news material. Also, the fast tempo, economic pressures, and dictate of clicks in the online environment reduce demand for traditional photojournalistic formats, such as photo essays, reportages, and documentaries. Thus, photographs published online can often be characterized as illustrations of spot and flash news rather than independent creative photo material.

In contrast with the common assumption that the adoption of digital technology has led to the acceleration of working process, our study proposes ‘the myth of acceleration’. On the one hand, each stage of the process of production offers quick capabilities. However, new responsibilities and workload, such as initial gatekeeping, have also been laid upon news photographers. Many Czech photojournalists are now in charge of shooting, selecting, editing, describing, keywording, archiving, and sometimes even publishing their own photographs. These new obligations and activities often demand almost equal time as the analog process did. The subsequent transformation of the newsroom structure calls into question the possibilities of quality evaluation of images and raises doubts about whether the acceleration so often connected with digitalization is justifiable.

Digitalization has weakened the position of professional photojournalists. The overall decline in quality images published and changing working conditions may contribute to photojournalists’ feelings of underappreciation. Although visual material is an integral part of news production and its importance is rising, the importance of single images and series is decreasing. Photojournalists are rarely welcomed to bring their own topics, and most of their work is assigned to them by editors.

Additionally, non-journalists and writing reporters often replace photojournalists. Surprisingly, Czech photojournalists feel more endangered by their colleagues – writing reporters equipped with digital cameras – rather than citizen photojournalists with limited professional knowledge and experience. There were no such extreme experiments in the Czech Republic as when the Chicago Sun-Times eliminated its photo department and replaced it with reporters equipped only with iPhones, agencies, image banks, and citizens. On the other hand, many respondents reported that writing reporters often take upon themselves the responsibility to produce visual content in addition to their common duties. This inner-newsroom competition is usually economically driven. News organizations’ austerity measures, such as big layoffs, accelerated by the 2008 global economic crisis also affected the personnel of photo departments. With non-professionals on the scene, the business status of Czech photojournalists has changed and the aura of photojournalism as a prestigious occupation might be diminished. Replacing professionals with amateurs may also result in unprofessional, low-quality visual materials. We might ask as to the extent this issue follows similar tendencies in other countries or might be an exclusive case of the Czech Republic and its economic realities. We suggest the whole issue would deserve further consideration in future research.

Although we are convinced that the adoption of digital technology is a complex problem and should be viewed in this perspective, nevertheless, the broad focus of our article could be considered as a major limitation of this study. In this article, we wanted to outline the major trends and impacts of digitalization in the Czech Republic. However, further research might consider each of the discussed issues separately. We consider several concerns especially important. The cinematic way of photographing – the approximation of still and moving images – could be studied on the level of image production (practice, routines) and image quality (formal and content). Further research on the formal and content quality of photo news production might focus on image analyses, the domination of visual clichés, and the lack of ‘iconic’ photographs. Increasing workload, delegation of responsibilities, and the consequent illusion of speed might be considered in juxtaposition with an acceleration commonly connected with work in the digital environment. Future research could also focus on the role of non-professionals on the scene, issues arising from digital manipulation, differences between print and online photojournalism, and technological improvements – three-dimensional (3D) photography, virtual reality experiences, and complete change of interface (smart glasses instead of computer screens).

Footnotes

Declaration of Conflicting Interests

The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Funding

The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This article was supported by the funding scheme Charles University Research Development Schemes (PRVOUK), Faculty of Social Sciences.

Notes

Author biographies

Filip Láb, PhD, is an Associate Professor at the Institute of Communication Studies and Journalism, Faculty of Social Science, Charles University in Prague. He specializes in visual culture, visual communication, photojournalism, theory and praxis of traditional and digital photography, transition from analog to digital photography, and new functions of visual materials in new media. He is a co-author of two monographies – ‘Fotografie po fotografii’ (Photography after photography, with Pavel Turek, PhD, Karolinum, 2009) and ‘Soumrak fotožurnalismu?’ (The End of Photojournalism? with PhD, Alena Lábová, Karolinum, 2009). Since 2011, he is working on the research of Czech journalists as part of international research Worlds of Journalism Study (with Alice N. Tejkalová, PhD). Since 2013, he is working on research of Czech photojournalism – Changes of structure and content of photojournalistic practice in the Era of Social Media (with Sandra Štefaniková).

Sandra Štefaniková is a PhD candidate of Media studies in the Institute of Communication Studies and Journalism, Faculty of Social Science, Charles University in Prague. She is a Czech editor of European Observatory of Journalism (EJO) project supported by University of Lugano, Switzerland. She received degree in Journalism (2012) from Charles University in Prague and History of Art (2007) at Palacky University in Olomouc. She is member of the European Communication and Research Association (ECREA). Currently, she is working on her doctorate thesis dealing with the relationship between media, culture, and political authorities in the non-democratic political systems. Together with Filip Láb, she is working on a research concerning the transformation of photojournalism in Central Europe (Changes of structure and content of photojournalistic practice in the Era of Social Media).

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