The spectacle of suffering and death: the photographic representation of war in Greek newspapers

Abstract

This article analyses the visual construction of human suffering in war, with special reference to the signifying practices of the photographs published in Greek newspapers during the Second Iraq War. The author carries out a socio-semiotic analysis, arguing that the overall construction of the Second Iraq War in the Greek press — illustrated by two case studies which are examined in detail — combines contradictory elements and assumptions. Representations of the war are `framed' by the `overpoliticization' of the Greek public sphere and the dominant political culture synthesizing themes of `anti-Americanism', `anti-globalization' and `pro-Third Worldism', but also a particular version of what Said called `Orientalism'. More specifically, the insistence on spectacular images of suffering, and the combination of a humanitarian discourse of compassion for the `innocent distant victims of war' with populist and Greek Christian Orthodox conceptualizations of the self are constitutive elements of the newspapers' signifying practices, which aid the Greek press to be critical of the hegemonic western discourse regarding the Second Iraq War without, however, slipping to the other side of `Orientalist binary oppositions'. On the contrary, this persistence on the humanitarian discourse of compassion towards victims is pivotal in identifying with the western moral virtues of `civilized' humanity.

Images of liberation? Visual framing, humanitarianism and British press photography during the 2003 Iraq invasion

“…Similar visuals-led studies have examined US or European media outlets (e.g. Griffin, 2004;Konstantinidou, 2008;, or compared international titles (Fahmy, 2007;Fahmy and Kim, 2008), but no other study provides a comparable comprehensive and detailed examination of UK press photography. In following such a design, the study pointedly places the focus of research on the use of photographs as they are printed and textually embedded in the newspaper form, presenting a rigorous and nuanced approach to visual news framing.…”

When media and world politics meet: Crisis press coverage in the Arab–Israel and East–West conflicts

“…A picture is worth a thousand words, so the prevalence of text articles should not diminish the importance of photos and other graphic items (Griffin, 2004;Kennedy, 2008;Konstantinidou, 2008;Perlmutter, 2005;Perlmutter and Wagner, 2004;Zelizer, 2005). Findings in Figure 4A indicate that what the story photo narratives tell about the main object is rather similar: politicians and decision-makers appeared on the front pages more frequently than any other figure, followed by soldiers and militants as a second most frequent image.…”

Representation of Death Culture in the Estonian Press

“…This raises the critical issue of whether or not journalists ought to accurately depict the horrors of the war, even if this would be offensive to the audience or the government (see e.g. Konstantinidou 2008;Silcock & Schwalbe 2008;Borah 2009). Arguments about our dead versus their dead; about civilian versus military dead; about showing the faces of the dead, etc., inevitably draw in news editors, media ombudsmen and readers (Zelizer 2005, 27).…”