Seeing Beyond Crisis: Analyzing Photographs and Photographer Bylines in Solutions-Oriented Environmental Journalism Stories

Through content analysis, researchers have explored how the environment is visually represented in solutions-oriented news stories. Story topic showed key differences, with stories about wildlife typically featuring many photos per article compared with other topics such as climate change and pollution.

Another insight was that one-third of the solutions-focused articles in the study featured photos from outside sources, such as a person or organization appearing in the story. This finding suggests a greater need for investment in photojournalism training and opportunities, according to Ivy Ashe, an assistant professor of multimedia journalism at Florida Atlantic University, and Kyser Lough, an associate professor of journalism at University of Georgia, who collaborated on the study.

Photo credit: Charlie Pye-Smith/World Agroforestry Centre