A Matter of Style: The Meaning Potential of Photojournalism Aesthetics
Abstract
Photojournalism has been historically regarded as homogenous practice of image making in visual communication research, limiting the systematic analysis of diverse aesthetic styles and their potential to influence attitudes and emotions. This study focuses specifically on photojournalism aesthetics to examine the meaning potential of style and explore the proliferation of styles in the contemporary news system. Using a constructed year sample from The New York Times (N = 5,133) this study used both qualitative and quantitative content analysis to create a taxonomy of photojournalistic styles and empirically linked the discrete styles to specific news contexts. In total, seven discrete styles were classified and their semiotic potential explicated.
Fields of Study & Subjects
Photography and Visual Culture
Literature
Film
and Journalism Analysis
Visual Culture and Art Theory
Publication details
- Journal / source
- Visual Communication Quarterly
- Publisher
- Informa UK Limited
- Volume
- 33
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 138–157
- Publication date
- 3 April 2026
- Language
- EN