Photojournalism and Disaster: Case Study of Visual Coverage of Flood 2010 in National Newspapers

The phenomenon of flood after rainy season is not new for Pakistan but flood in 2010 is the biggest ever and effected & displaced millions of people from their homes. Role of photojournalist is very critical at the time of crisis as they can touch hearts by only one picture rather than using many words. Using Content Analysis technique the aim of study is to analyze photographic coverage of flood 2010 in national newspapers. The study is focused on prominent frames used in visual coverage of flood 2010. Moreover, the study also analyzed ethical issues like showing dead & mutilated bodies, grief and gender stereotyping; in photos of flood 2010. Both English (Dawn, The News, Express) and Urdu (Jang, Express, nawa-i-waqt); are analyzed which helped in establishing the difference in visual framing of both language media. Using census sampling method all photographs (2156 photos) including hard news photos, stand alone photos, and photographs with feature stories; in above mentioned newspapers are analyzed; from July 2010 when the crisis initially started to November 2010 are included in study. Major frames found in visual coverage of flood 2010 are human interest frames, economical frame and political frame. It was observed that Human Interest Frame is dominant in all newspapers. Political frame is more prominent in Urdu newspapers. There are very less photographs portraying dead and mutilated bodies. Visuals are gender stereotypes in a way that females are dominantly framed in passive roles. This study has tried to contribute to scarcity existing in visual framing research.