The future of visual journalism in Finland and Sweden. Working with photographs as visual truths

This project aims to understand how visual journalistic professionals classify, make and present photographs to make truth claims about the world.

Today’s questioning of journalism as a knowledge institution, the de-professionalization of photojournalism, and the new technological infrastructure for circulation of images, motivate this study of the role of photographs in today’s visual journalism.

We will look at the current changes in the field of visual journalism in Finland and Sweden because of their similarities when it comes to media models, but also interesting differences around knowledge struggles and in educational contexts for photographers.

By adopting a comparative perspective and including different kinds of newsrooms – elite-oriented and popular – as well as two national contexts, it becomes possible to discuss similarities and differences in both national and transnational practices.

By participant observations and qualitative interviews, we will focus on the interaction between and among the visual professionals and the rest of the newsroom, their technological environment, and explore how their work is shaped by different news media platforms.

A further goal with the project is also to contribute to a discussion around ways to present visuals to support critical thinking around photographs’ trustworthiness.