A Study: Press Photo Attracts Readers More Than Content

Recommending
Diversifying News Sources and Increasing Reliance on Reporters

A Study: Press
Photo Attracts Readers More Than Content

 

29 July 2020

A scientific study from the
College of Arts at the University of Bahrain (UOB) found that the press photos attract
readers more than the journalistic content and that readers consider the press
release incomplete without the photos.

The scientific study presented the
student in the Master of Media program at the University, Shaima Al-Alawi, investigated
“the news function of the front-page pictures of newspapers in the Kingdom
of Bahrain in light of the public’s interests.”

As the study aimed identify how
important it is for ” Gulf News ” and “Al-Ayam” newspapers
to put press photos on the front page, the topics covered by these pictures, and
the topics that readers expect.

Also, the research monitored the
types of press photos used by the two newspapers, the sources that the
newspapers rely on to obtain the pictures, the place of the photo in the
newspaper, whether or not they are accompanied by an explanation or a caption,
and the values ??they carry.

Regarding the importance of her
study, Shaima Al-Alawi said that the study sheds light on the importance of front-page
photos in carrying out the reporting function that helps persuade the reader
more than written words in a way that instantly gives the reader the content of
the news.

Furthermore, she continued saying
that the topic of photos did not receive the required attention from academic
researchers, so this study is important because it is the first in Bahrain to
address press photos on the first page.

The researcher used a random
sample of Bahraini citizens of both sexes between the ages of 18 and 50, within
the limits of 400 individuals, who live in the four governorates of Bahrain: the
Capital, the Northern, the Southern, and Muharraq governorates.

An examination committee
discussed Al-Alawi in her thesis, which consisted of Professor of Journalism
and Media in the Department of Media, Tourism and Arts at UOB Prof. Ashraf
Saleh as a supervisor, Professor of Media and Public Relations in the same
department Dr. Ashraf Abdelmogeth as an internal examiner, and Professor of
Journalism at Cairo University Dr. Sami Taya’a as an external examiner.

The findings of the newspaper
content analysis on front-page photos conducted by the researcher showed that
there is a clear diversity in the subjects of the photos published by the
“Gulf News” and “Al-Ayam” newspapers, in that they covered
various fields and issues, whether local or foreign and the priorities for
selecting news photos on the first page were similar in the two newspapers to a
large extent.

Moreover, the findings showed
that there is a clear interest in front-page photos to highlight the photographic
coverage of international events, in order to give priority to the reporting
function of the press photos, as news related to the GCC countries was at the
forefront of international topics with a rate of (23.1%) of the occurrences of
pictures.

The researcher recommended
working on increasing diversity in news sources and increasing reliance on
newspaper reporters, taking into account the developments that have emerged
with the emergence and spread of social networking sites, so that online
reporters are hired just like traditional reporters.

Also, she stressed the importance
of publishing press photos with an explanation and commenting on them, because
the continuation of displaying photos without any explanation or comment strips
the photos of its automatism, its intrinsic value and its ability to reflect
the content.

 

Sustainable Development Goals

4 Quality education

17 Partnerships for the goals

 

Key Words

Press photos, press content, types of press photos,
newspaper content analysis, newspaper reporters, publishing press photos with
comments