When the Chief of British Intelligence told Australia’s First Official War Correspondent, C.E.W Bean in October 1914 that war reporters were a ‘dying profession’, Bean recorded in his diary that on the contrary, he thought it was the beginning of a new era. Bean proved prescient. Since 1863 Australia has had over 750 journalists, photographers and cinematographers covering international conflicts. Despite this tradition, the history of Australian conflict reporting has been neglected by historians. This article will provide an overview of the Australian historiography and the corresponding scholarship in the US and UK. It will also consider seminal issues such as censorship, the mythology and self‐mythology surrounding war reporting, media power and the Anzac legend.
This article analyses the news photography surrounding a high-profile case of alleged matricide in Australia: the disappearance of 9-month-old Azaria Chamberlain, and the subsequent murder trial and eventual acquittal of her mother, Lindy. While the scholarship on the media’s conduct during Chamberlain’s ordeal has been exhaustive, the press photographers’ role has not been considered. Drawing on oral history interviews with newspaper photographers, this article explores the ways that the photographers’ workplace culture, gender, relationships and practices informed their approach. It argues that their images in isolation did not contribute to the demonisation of Chamberlain; the same photographs were used to project both innocence and guilt depending on the editorial interpretation. The article will provide new historical understanding about the photographic traditions and routines surrounding the Chamberlain case and crime photography more generally.
For over a century, press and magazine photography has influenced how Australians have viewed society, and played a critical role in Australia's evolving national identity. Despite its importance and longevity, the historiography of Australian news photography is surprising limited. This article examines the history of press and magazine photography and considers its genesis, the transformative technological innovations, debates about images of violence, the industrial attitudes towards photographers and their treatment, the use of photographs and the seismic recent changes. The article argues that while the United States and United Kingdom influenced the trajectory of press and news photography in Australia, there are significant and illuminating differences.
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