Photography and photojournalism, an emerging object of study in communication research in Spain

Abstract

This paper addresses photography and photojournalism as an object of study in communication research in Spanish universities between 2007 and 2018. The documents analysed show that despite being an emerging study, due to the social interest it inspires in the era of post-truth, there is still relatively little scientific production linked to RDI projects. However, the topics that have been studied over those twelve years show an increasing interest in researching topics of international relevance in the Social Sciences, such as identities. It is worthy of note that many of these studies, especially doctoral theses, still adhere to the role of the image in offline media and most of them are descriptive. But a new era is opening for communication research in which what has previously been a weakness, the lack of a clear study methodology, may become a strength, given that photography can be interpreted from different approaches and disciplines in tune with new ways of thinking about and investigating these disciplines, these new approaches tending towards the holistic. There is evidence of great interest in the development of this object of study, which is considered a key element in the global media panorama.