European Journal of Scientific Research - EuroJournals

Comparative Analysis of Pictorial Coverage of Events by Pakistan’s English Press 747
reality” (Hasan, 2005). Visuals are more effective, influential and memorable compared to the
narration that is why most newspaper editors intend to accompany most of the news stories with
pictures and special attention is given to the pictorial coverage of events so that the real picture of the
event can be presented before the reader. There’s nothing like a photograph to give a newspaper
motion and emotion. Photo journalism lies at the very heart of newspaper design” (Harrower, 2004).
Today’s reader urges to see something unique, appealing, snappy, easy to grasp and that can appeal the
reader’s aesthetic sense. ‘Every picture tells a story and every story deserves a picture. Today’s readers
are so spoiled by TV and magazines that they now expect color photos, yet to accompany nearly every
story they read’ (p.4).
Today’s media is entangled in competitive environment. Print media, newspaper in particular
has to combat television staged with glamour, radio for its access, interactive media for its speed and
glazing magazines. ‘Pictures are one of the key elements of a page. It is a picture that draws a reader
into a page and helps to guide him or her through the page and the material on it’ (Frost, 2002).
Therefore a right picture, at right place in right time plays pivotal role in making newspaper eye
catching and can compete its other technological rivals. ‘It is one of the peculiar characteristics of the
photo that it isolates single moments in time. The TV camera does not’ (McLuhan, 2002). It wouldn’t
be wrong to say that pictures displayed in newspaper significantly attract more readerships. ‘The
convincing power of the verbal comment in turn is strengthened by the photographic image, which
multiplies the emotional elements’ (Hasan, 2005). This study aims to explore the coverage and
importance given to the pictorial coverage by English dailies.
History of pictorial journalism is not so old. A French inventor named Niepce produced the first
permanent photograph in 1826. The historian of photography associated with the rediscovery of
Niepce’s early work was Helmut Gernsheim, whose History of Photography (published in 1995 and
1969) helped shape, for better or worse, the way that developments in the science are understood (Price
1998). Technological advancement in photographic equipments opened new doors of innovation, and it
became possible to capture an event within a camera. The first newspaper photograph was published in
1880. News photos didn’t become common, however, until the early 1900s. Gradually photographs
began to become important elements of newspaper design. Full color photos became common in the
early’80s, thus ushering the modern era of newspaper design (Harrower, 2002). In Pakistan, during
1950s English newspapers followed this trend by giving occasional photographic coverage to
important events. It took some time for Urdu newspaper to give attention to photography. However, in
1953, an Urdu daily ‘Kohistan’ was the first Urdu newspaper that started giving photographic coverage
to the events since then the Urdu press is far ahead in the production of photographs (Hasan and
Khurshid, 1987).
Pictures have a major part to play in setting the emotional agenda of a piece. Whether they are
pictures of widows weeping at a pithead mining disaster or the triumphant smile of the sports victor or
the mouth-twisting absorption of a picture- painting toddler, they all add something to the reader’s
perception of what has happened. The Poynter Institute’s Eye-trac research shows that readers are
drawn into a page by the picture or pictures (Garcia and Stark 1991). The picture is therefore important
to a page design and usually becomes the page’s entry point, drawing the reader in and then directing
them to the start of the main article. Newspapers and magazines are a potent mix of text and image
designed to grab the reader’s attention and hold it, making the experience of reading the news easy and
enjoyable and, more importantly for some, to tempt readers to carry on shelling out a reasonable
amount of precious cash to pay for it. The aim of a magazine front cover or a newspaper front page is
solely to invite the reader to buy, to tempt them into picking up the publication and become engrossed
in its content. The aim of inside is to continue that experience by offering information, education and
entertainment (Frost, 2003).
People have been interested in pictures for a long time. This interest has two related aspects: (a)
our interest in the picture of reality provided us in bits and pieces by our visual and gross body
orienting systems-and their technological enhancements. Indeed, Western science has provided us with
ever-clearer pictures of reality through the extension of our senses by specialized instruments, and (b)