The Trauma of Representation

Abstract

The aim of this article is to demonstrate the necessity of a visual culture perspective to photojournalism: an approach that takes account of the fact that many news images tend to cross not only cultural and national boundaries, but media and genre boundaries as well. Clearly it takes a perspective like visual culture to examine what happens to the meaning and function of news photographs when they start circulating in the wider culture, as well as individuals and groups use them to make sense of traumatic historical events like the September 11 attacks. From a media perspective, the events of September 11 first and foremost stand out as a landmark in the history of television news. All over the world, people were glued to the television news from the U.S., repeatedly watching the same loops of video footage, as the plane exploded into the second tower of the World Trade Center and the Lower Manhattan skyline disappeared under a gray cloud of dust and debris. The incredible live images were replayed throughout the day, as news journalists and viewers alike struggled to make sense of the catastrophic scenes.