Журнал массовых коммуникаций и журналистики

Photojournalism in Pakistan: Ethics and Responsibilities Analysis of Urdu Newspapers Front Pages

Abstract

Muhammad Wasim Akbar, Muhammad Riaz Raza, Shahid Hussain and Zafar Ali

Photojournalism occupies very important place in media in this digital age of communication. Since the picture is most effective tool of communication, it conveys meaning in the most attractive and truthful manner. At the same time, it is very often exploited for the selfish ends of the media organization irrespective of the values and norms of the society. It not only goes against the values and norms of the society but it also depicts in picture the vice and immoralities in attractive manner. This paper explores the practices and preferences of Pakistani print media in the flourishing field of photojournalism. For the purpose, front pages of three leading Urdu newspapers The Daily Jang, Express and Nawa-e-Waqt were selected to measure the nature of photojournalism in print media. The researchers selected four major events of suicide attacks in the years 2007, 2010 and 2011. These bloodiest events covered by newspapers extensively with images and body parts of victims on front pages. To catch maximum readership the print media frequently displayed bloody and violent terrorize images of the victims in suicide attacks, bomb blasts, firings and accidents on front pages. These newspapers did not consider ethical codes as an important and essential component for photojournalism.