Whither Photojournalism in Spain?

Up next at ECREA 2014 are Virginia Guerrero and Bella Palomo. They begin by noting that mobile phones are now omnipresent and can become tools for a form of pocket journalism that transforms audiences into potential creators of journalistic content. This takes place against the backdrop of funding declines in the mainstream media, and has raised questions about the continuing need for professional photojournalists.

Even as photojournalists are being laid off, then, the importance of images in journalism continues to increase. Does this jeopardise the profession of photojournalism? The project conducted interviews with 12 Spanish photojournalists at local, regional, national, and international levels.

The photojournalists noted the change to their profession. As soon as journalists are being asked to take photos as well, this trespasses on their field; but they also note the fact that photojournalists are often self-trained and have no formal professional association that might represent their interests. They feel the current crisis to be worse than any before, and many of them are beginning to make alternative plans or are taking on increasingly more dangerous assignments abroad, especially in conflict zones.

But there is still optimism, and they see the profession of photojournalism as a vocational one; at the same time, they think that a good professional should have professional training. They also think that the current crisis is driven by the industry, not by the audience itself – while they understand that they no longer have a monopoly on the image in the media, they also believe in a continued demand for quality photography, even if audiences are not necessarily prepared to pay for such content. They see a visual crisis in Spain: a crisis of aesthetics and of the design of newspapers.

A new Law of Citizen Security coming into effect in Spain in 2015 is adding news restrictions on the photography of state authorities such as the police, especially where such photography may undermine state security. This is a further significant challenge to the continued operation of Spanish photojournalism.