Blog 4: The New World of the Digital Photojournalist

Cheryl Diaz Meyer’s essay, “Digital Photojournalism,” raises many important questions about the intersection of digital technology and storytelling in conflicted, often war-torn areas such as Afghanistan and Iraq. Meyer spends much of her essay detailing her experiences as a photographer for the Dallas Morning News stationed in Afghanistan during the U.S. invasion following Sept. 11, 2001. Although she contends at the outset of her essay that “the new technology seemed impressive until we had to carry it along with all of our supplies into the horrendous conditions of war and dust,” her eventual argument is of the persuasion that experimentation—and even temporary hardship—with new digital technologies (such as digital cameras with audio and video capabilities and negative scanners that can transmit images from the field under deadline pressure) is worthwhile because its capabilities enable more dynamic storytelling.

Still, she cautions that there’s an institutional divide in the world of photojournalism, one between old-school digital photojournalists and those who aspire to become multidimensional platypi, a term being use to describe the mix of still photos, video, audio and animation that many believe is the future of photojournalism.

Aside from a photo editor at the Dallas Morning News who tells Meyer that good photography “precludes multitasking,” Meyer presents arguments in favor of bringing the field of photojournalism technologically forward despite her firsthand admission that “Dust, rough roads, and sticky fingers were the bane of our technological existence in Afghanistan.”

Meyer’s insights are telling, but she doesn’t flesh out her argument or her findings about the “two different schools of thought” on the direction of photojournalism fully. It was interesting, though, because the way she hints at the differing views concerning the future of photojournalism is not unlike what I’ve felt exists in print journalism: a subtle but prevalent culture clash between those who not only embrace technology but want to dive into it head-first, and those who want to embrace technology but are weary and cautious, afraid that the unknown, or the takes-awhile-to-get-the-knack of will mar the journalistic process as they know and treasure it.