Photojournalists on the frontline : comparing and contrasting photojournalism during the Spanish flu and the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

This study shows how during a pandemic, photojournalists are on the frontline, as the world depends on the media for updates about the pandemic. Photojournalists risk their lives in different ways to provide vital historical documentation. This research looks into how photojournalists around the world documented the Spanish Flu and the COVID-19 pandemic. The images from the Spanish Flu and the COVID-19 pandemic serve as a visual collection of memories, and despite a century of differences, the photos from both pandemics reveal a pattern in the measures taken to combat the spread, as well as human suffering and reactions. Through interviews with photojournalists, this study shows how the COVID-19 pandemic challenged photojournalists to find different and new ways to do their work in spite of the physical and psychological toll of photographing a pandemic. The photojournalists explain the struggles they faced to provide credible evidence and how the COVID-19 restrictions have impacted their job. Maltese photojournalists insist that local restrictions made it impossible for them to have the opportunity to shoot photos as other photojournalists around the globe. They believe that giving access to photojournalists to document what was going on in hospitals, would have made the Maltese people more aware of the seriousness of the pandemic. Photojournalism has undergone drastic changes, so this study looks into the impact of digital photography and the way photojournalists had to change work practices.