Thierry Gervais (dir.), The Public Life of Photographs, Toronto, Ryerson mage Center Books, 2016, p. 111-127.
Despite the publication of hundreds upon thousands of photographs in the press, most analyses of ... more Despite the publication of hundreds upon thousands of photographs in the press, most analyses of photojournalism focus on iconic photographs and iconic images in photography. This chapter aims to highlight how such news icons have lost their status as transparent conveyors of information to take on that of upgraded graphic forms, produced by a self-fulfilling institutionalization process. Iconic images comprise a small group of images that are chosen by the profession of photojournalism and are representative of the narrative stereotypes created by the media industry. They are the most obvious manifestation of the hierarchical organization of information, based on semiotic criteria, of which photography has been an important component since the beginning of the twentieth century. Photographic “icons” provide the proof of and illustrate narrative visual practices in news media, an idea largely ignored by the profession, or uncritically accepted by it as a “magic” encounter between the objective and the aesthetic.
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Papers by Andre Gunthert
(English translation: http://imagesociale.fr/8664)
This contribution proposes to characterize this evolution, based on recent history, by examining the new conditions of socialization of images, which also exposes their producers to new risks. On the internet, the level of reposting and the number of attention signs provide an intuitive measure of the value of shared content. The immediacy of the signs of visibility and their amplification by the algorithmic filter intensify the process of collective election called "virality", which determines their public visibility.
The arrival of new producers within the public sphere generates conflicts of legitimacy. The moral panic that welcomes the selfie in 2013-2014 indicates both the passage of a threshold of visibility, and the perception of a gap between its exposure and its presumed value. Video document brings together several properties that make it a privileged asset of public debate: that of being perceived as a convocation of the real, a presumption of testimony, but also a self-sufficient demonstration. It not only provides information, but is in itself a shifter of interaction and a generator of visibility.
The growing presence of iconographic material in shared spaces is accompanied by the spontaneous development of reflexive forms. In a context of argumentative exchange and controversy, it is the participatory critique that establishes the meaning of the sources. The example of the yellow vests crisis shows that audiovisual documents, selected by collective attention and accredited by their contradictory reading, have reshaped the perception of the social conflict.
Faisant apparaître les paradoxes et les confusions de la théorie, cet article déploie deux objections majeures. Le réalisme indiciel isole la photographie des technologies d’enregistrement et méconnaît les caractères de cette catégorie archivale, limitant la démonstration de la spécificité photographique à une tautologie. C’est une argumentation à caractère psychologique qui entretient l’illusion d’un transfert de présence, alors que celui-ci résulte de projections subjectives et d’un contexte de lecture documentaire.