<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p>As ethnographic studies of the visual gatekeeping process at newsrooms are scarce and the increasingly digitised news era demands for reconsideration, this article focuses on the results of a qualitative study at the photo news desk of a Flemish newspaper in Belgium. Our aim has been to provide an update and a broadening of previous studies on visual gatekeeping processes, and the findings are based on observations, in-depth interviews and reconstructions of the visual selection process. Our results show that routine and organisational influences as the ‘newsroom culture’ and the ‘rhythm’ of the newspaper outweigh individual preferences of photo editors. In-house photographers are systematically preferred to wire photographs. The information value of photos prevails, but aesthetics and good taste add another layer of deliberation. In addition, layout policies explicitly steer photo editors in their decision-making process.</p></abstract>

As ethnographic studies of the visual gatekeeping process at newsrooms are scarce and the increasingly digitised news era demands for reconsideration, this article focuses on the results of a qualitative study at the photo news desk of a Flemish newspaper in Belgium. Our aim has been to provide an update and a broadening of previous studies on visual gatekeeping processes, and the findings are based on observations, in-depth interviews and reconstructions of the visual selection process. Our results show that routine and organisational influences as the ‘newsroom culture’ and the ‘rhythm’ of the newspaper outweigh individual preferences of photo editors. In-house photographers are systematically preferred to wire photographs. The information value of photos prevails, but aesthetics and good taste add another layer of deliberation. In addition, layout policies explicitly steer photo editors in their decision-making process.

Visual Gatekeeping – Selection of News Photographs at a Flemish Newspaper

Nordicom Review

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

A Qualitative Inquiry into the Photo News Desk

As ethnographic studies of the visual gatekeeping process at newsrooms are scarce and the increasingly digitised news era demands for reconsideration, this...

Visual Gatekeeping – Selection of News Photographs at a Flemish Newspaper

Published Online: Nov 28, 2017

Page range: 57 - 70

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/nor-2017-0414

Keywords
visual gatekeeping, news values, news photos, news ethnography, photo editors

© 2017 Hedwig de Smaele et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Visual Gatekeeping – Selection of News Photographs at a Flemish Newspaper

Published Online: Nov 28, 2017

Page range: 57 - 70

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/nor-2017-0414

Keywordsvisual gatekeeping, news values, news photos, news ethnography, photo editors

© 2017 Hedwig de Smaele et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Keywords
visual gatekeeping, news values, news photos, news ethnography, photo editors