Photographs, Tropes and Violence: Reconstructing the Past in News

Photographs in journalism can be viewed as standard evidence for historical occurrences which tend to acquire a hidden political significance. Such photographs demand attention and interpretation that can make sense of the reality captured in a particular space and time. Every photo has to be placed in a specific cultural context which transforms it into powerful visual texts. Such texts demand interpretation in totality; any absence of such evidence may end up wiping out crucial pieces of the past from public consciousness. Clearly, visuals impact public consciousness and are crucial in shaping the processes through which images are used to reconstruct ‘the historical’ for the consumption of contemporary society.