THE POWER OF IMAGES IN CONFLICT AND DISASTER STORIES.

Photos have the power to make people think, feel and take action. They may horrify, reassure, anger or take the breath away. While words can describe the aftermath of a disaster — a tornado, a plane crash, a school shooting — a photo visually communicates the pain etched in victims' faces, the mangled metal and strewn debris, the wounded bodies being rolled away on stretchers by paramedics. Of course, good writing can evoke strong emotions as well, but certain photos have an impact that is immediate and startling and much more long lasting than a well-written article.

The best package has to be that of a good write-up supported with a good image. If an article is very well-written but does not a have a image which describes it well it is not possible to grab the readers attention with it.

The television boom is a classic example, which depicts the power of image. In today’s world you will find that most of 99% people are glued to television sets and also the internet but hardly people who are loyal to their radio sets, especially in situations of emergency as people believe their eyes, more than their ears.

So much is the impact of the images that not onlythe readers/ viewers but it also has an impact on the photographers especially in situations of tragedy. The photographers and journalists are a part of the team of first responders whenever a tragedy occurs. They are there to document the news event in pictures. And their work can have a strong and lasting impact on the public consciousness.

Talking about the impact of images, it becomes important to understand that which are the situations when they work to the best and are really important for a news piece to sell.

Images are mainly required in case of human-interest stories. In human-interest stories the main aim is to grab the attention of the audiences and have an emotional appeal attached.

Human-interest stories are mainly stories related to natural disasters, wars etc and to cover these kind of stories it becomes very important to provide the viewers with a glimpse of the real situation which can be done only with the help of pictures and live videos.

The first impact of images was seen during the Vietnam War. Even today the media coverage of the Vietnam is marked in the global history. It was this war the changed the media reportage because the media brought live pictures of the war to the American homes which helped people get a more clearer picture and also the other aspect of a war. It gave the people a chance to think for themselves rather than believe the official version that they were being provided with. And moreover there were images supporting the viewpoint that the news channels were feeding them with.



THE VIETNAM WAR – A CLASSIC EXAMPLE OF THE POWER OF IMAGES.

The horrors of war entered the living rooms of Americans for the first time during the Vietnam War. For almost a decade in between school, work, and dinners, the American public could watch villages being destroyed, Vietnamese children burning to death, and American body bags being sent home. Though initial coverage generally supported U.S involvement in the war, television news dramatically changed its frame of the war after the Tet Offensive. Images of the U.S led massacre at My Lai dominated the television, yet the daily atrocities committed by North Vietnam and the Viet Cong rarely made the evening news. Moreover, the anti-war movement at home gained increasing media attention while the U.S soldier was forgotten in Vietnam. Coverage of the war and its resulting impact on public opinion has been debated for decades by many intelligent media scholars and journalists.

By the mid-1960's, television was considered to be the most important source of news for the American public, and, possibly, the most powerful influence on public opinion itself. Throughout the Korean War, the television audience remained small. In 1950, only 9 percent of homes owned a television. By 1966, this figure rose to 93 percent (Bonior, Champlin, Kolly, 1984, p.18). As televisions became more popular in the home, more Americans began to get their news from television than from any other source. A series of surveys conducted by the Roper Organization for the Television Information Office from 1964 until 1972 demonstrates the growing power of television. With multiple answers allowed, respondents were asked from which medium they "got most of their news". In 1964, 58 percent said television; 56 percent, newspapers; 26 percent, radio; and 8 percent, magazines. By 1972, 64 percent said television while the number of respondents who primarily relied on newspapers dropped to 50 percent (Hallin, 1986, p.106). Thus, as the Vietnam War dragged on, more and more Americans turned to television as their primary source for news.





But the Vietnam War was just the beginning to a new era of technology boom. After that there were many wars, which were fought, and many disasters, which were captured in camera.

By the mid-1960's, television was considered to be the most important source of news for the American public, and, possibly, the most powerful influence on public opinion itself. Throughout the Korean War, the television audience remained small. In 1950, only 9 percent of homes owned a television. By 1966, this figure rose to 93 percent (Bonior, Champlin, Kolly, 1984, p.18). As televisions became more popular in the home, more Americans began to get their news from television than from any other source. A series of surveys conducted by the Roper Organization for the Television Information Office from 1964 until 1972 demonstrates the growing power of television. With multiple answers allowed, respondents were asked from which medium they "got most of their news". In 1964, 58 percent said television; 56 percent, newspapers; 26 percent, radio; and 8 percent, magazines. By 1972, 64 percent said television while the number of respondents who primarily relied on newspapers dropped to 50 percent (Hallin, 1986, p.106). Thus, as the Vietnam War dragged on, more and more Americans turned to television as their primary source for news.

Also in the recent years we have seen various instances where the images have had a major impact on the minds of the people and has also led to them forming their opinions and making their decisions.

A few of them being
1) The Plane Crash at World Trade Center
2) The Tsunami
3) Kargil War
4) The US-Iraq War

Even the mere mention of the above topics brings to our mind horrifying images of the past and mass destuction that it had caused. There would hardly any people who would remember these issues with a particular article or a story that was written about it.

Even today most of the people will relate to these incidents with the images that did the rounds during this era.

The Osama Bin Laden tapes that was telecast on AL-Jazeera and Iraqi channel caught attention and became news because the news channel actually showed an interview with the terrorist. Had it been just an voice over it would have not had the same impact that it otherwise managed to have.

Let us further have an in- depth look into the various images that made the world sit up and have a look at it.



WORLD TRADE CENTRE ATTACKS – INCREASING TERRORISM

The 9/11 is one of the best examples one can see of the impact that images can have. One of the main reasons that this issue attracted so much media attention from all over the world was the fact that it was one of its kinds.
We could see live footages of the terrorist attacks on our television screens. Every news channel all around the globe was focusing its complete attention on this issue. Whether it was the BBC or an Indian channel like Aaj Tak, news as big as this was something noone could overlook and most of all it had what most news channels and news agencies need today to sell their stories, images and photographs backing it up.
Even today the mere mention of September 9/11 brings to our mind the live visuals that we saw on our television sets that was the impact that the news coverage of 9/11 had on us. For many days this incident was followed up and also one of the main reasons of the Bush Government retaliating in such an aggressive manner by declaring a War Against Terrorism was the fact that the issue had become a global concern due to the media coverage that it received.
It was the first time ever that the whole world realized how big the problem of terrorism is and media had a great hand in this realization process because media by and large covered every angle and every aspect of this incident.
One of the main reasons that 9/11 received so much exposure was also the fact that the incident was caught on camera

Back then, the ratings of news channels and their popularity numbers were higher than they'd ever been in years.

THE TSUNAMI – THE WRATH OF NATURE
Tsunami was an example where nature shows its agony. The Tsunami got immense amount of coverage in the news channels, radio, internet, newspapers etc because of the immense amount of loss of human like and property that it involved. But again like mentioned below the story had a lot of weight age attached to it because of the powerful images that were showcased is various mediums.

Also in case of natural disasters like such it becomes very important to create funds for rehabilitation of the people who have lost their loved ones and with the impact that the images had created in case of tsunami it became much more easier for NGO’s and government organizations to generate funds as people were willing to pay from their pockets after seeing the visuals that were hard hitting and brought about an intention among people to do something for the victims of nature’s fury.




MUMBAI FLOODS


When talking about images it becomes very important to show rather than speak. Because like it goes “ a picture can depict a 1000 words.”

These pictures in itself describe that it is in relation with the Mumbai Floods of 26th July 2005. Without mentioning a word the audience can get the message in a much more clearer and a much more powerful manner.



THE OTHER SIDE OF THE ISSUE.

Although images can make the audience realise the intensity of an issue they can also at times cause problems as today with the advent of so many technologies people tend to misuse the power of image for either their own vested interests (for ex: channels may use to increase their trp’s) or for that matter can also be used to spread hoax news and humors.

Like this picture of the Tsunami does not exactly pertain to it but they ere spread via the web and besides that were also published by a few reputed newspapers. But despite this being a major issue and a serious one it is not really so easy to keep a check on it.