Echoes of Photojournalism in Nigeria’s <i>Tel</i>l and <i>Newswatch</i> Magazines

Abstract

Since photographs speak louder than words, there is always the desire to create a circumstantial evident of the artistry of photography as a special art in journalism. In determining the photo-journalistic ethics surrounding press photos as related to prevalent “maxim of the Five Ws (and one H), (what, why, when, where , who and how) a report may be considered complete if it addresses a checklist of six questions, each of which comprises an interrogative word…” ruptured in actionable news photo reportorial. In this paper, we discuss some logical views of the public, covering the journalistic ethos practiced by some photo and graphics personages in placing Nigeria’s Tell and Newswatch magazines as national watchdogs. This involved digitalizing news in pictures: making impossibility possible. Our review covered the period January to June 2010, by establishing a qualitative content analysis of random samples of cover stories and photosynthesis of pages of news in pictures in Nigeria’s Tell and Newswatch publications, in the light of the judgmental principle of standalones, especially when graphical symbols are used for telling stories. We concluded that news in pictures should be self expressive or minimally worded as to counterbalance journalistic encumbrances in communicative languages (press photos, displayed types or body texts). We came to the conclusion that news in picture attracts more attention and draws people’s interests to read the content of the article depicted in pictures’ on the cover page. Our recommendation shows that photojournalism is a welcome development in the media industry, but it should be done on such a way that less wordings are used while at the same time bringing out the clear message it was intended to be.

Keywords: photojournalism, photography, Tell and Newswatch magazines.