'The Cruel Radiance', and 'Can we rescue great photojournalism?'

<p>A really interesting little article from The New Republic, on a fascinating-sounding new book, and some larger issues in photojournalism today:</p>

<p><a href="http://www.tnr.com/article/the-picture/81733/photojournalism-cartier-bresson-capa">http://www.tnr.com/article/the-picture/81733/photojournalism-cartier-bresson-capa</a></p>

<p>Thank you for posting this. I find it very interesting, also. And of course, considering what's happened to the magazines that the greats of the past contributed to, very troubling. It seems to me that despite the current, and often free barrage of information that is readily available today, people are perhaps less informed than they were twenty to fifty years ago. I would even go as far as to say that this may relate to why obviously lacking politicians have been able to gain so much traction in recent years. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/29/opinion/29collins.html?_r=1&adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1296451538-Zu7MQU52O4ahkGrbtfXOKQ Perhaps we're getting what we pay for...</p>

<p>I agree with the latter characterization of the role that Salgado and Peress play, "Or are they mostly regarded as imaginative artists who just happen to be drawn to tough, newsworthy subjects?" My guess is that a much lower percentage of the population has been exposed to their work than would have been had they been working during the heyday of the major magazines. Their work would surely have appeared in them, just as Cartier-Bresson, W. Eugene Smith, and so many other high quality photojournalists work was. But because of the myriad and diffuse ways news is propagated today, I think that they are not nearly as well known. I think there is really something to be said for a highly professional, focused, and perhaps simplified medium for conveying vital current events.</p>

<p>I really miss receiving Newsweek magazine, as after the "re-design" just a few years back, I felt they absolutely ruined it. I'd been subscribing for many years, enjoying the cross-section of topics it covered, and the weekly interval seemed just right. One of the last great indelible images I remember was from a piece about Nebraska Senator Chuck Hagel. The black and white photograph perfectly communicated this thoughtful politician's dismay and dejection at not being able to help stop the Iraq War, as he walked down the Congressional hallway slump-shouldered. I feel strongly that there's a need for this sort of quality photojournalism, and have not found a replacement for it, even though I read a couple of major papers online almost daily.</p>

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<p>Well I can tell that here in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, most of the foreigners journalist are living the country, and replace them by locals ones. This is because is cheeper, it does not matter the quality of the information is given. I agree, now days we are getting more and more information from amateur or non professionals at all, falling in the worse and poorest quality of information.<br>

So what we have right now is Low Cost information, because we are in the era of Low Cost, simple as that.</p>

<p>reg<br>

Alex</p>