ABSTRACT
On 31 March 1900, the Illustrated London News (ILN) noted that ‘sketches and photographs from South Africa, now arriving in profusion, help those who live at home at ease to picture scenes of which the cable or the newsletter has already made them aware’ (italics mine). This statement sums up the very nature of pictorial reportage at the turn of the century: namely, that images of events were not ‘news’ but visual realizations of previous but familiar news. A century later, pictures are more often than not simultaneous and in some cases precede or even supplant the narrative. This concept is crucial as it determined the whole process of pictorial journalism. And what was the impact of such pictures appearing as they did weeks after the events they depicted? The ILN provides one clue: ‘The surrender of Cronje and the ensuing relief of Ladysmith are this week portrayed in a manner that revives some of the emotions that had free scope in London and all over the Empire a month ago.’ A week later pictures of Ladysmith appearing in the paper were accompanied by the following note: ‘The pictures explain themselves, and form an excellent commentary on the accounts of thrilling interest which have been sent home during the last month in the despatches of correspondents at the front.’ 1 We will return to this later.
