ABSTRACT
Much of people’s knowledge about the world is gathered from the reading of visual images in television and newsprint media. This is especially so in the case of “risk events,” from epidemics to ecological disasters, creating a heightened awareness of the fragility of life-systems in face of different kinds of hazards. Photographs of smokestacks, oil smeared seabirds, fish floating belly up, traffic jams, and dying forests have become integral parts of environmental imagery. The search for blame and responsibility is always present in news media coverage, sometimes leading to complex chains of causation which are visually recognizable.
