ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book begins by pointing out that the steadily increasing flow of amateur images of global crises presents both challenges and opportunity for the mainstream news media. It examines the relative prominence of amateur content in the online and print editions of some Swedish newspapers, where gatekeeping processes—shaped by the normative judgements of editors making decisions about the relative quality of such images for publication—receive careful scrutiny. The book explores the notion of the “tyranny of the empty frame” within the online provision of two leading Slovenian newspapers, where online journalists—working with little, if any, training or experience in photojournalism—are required to provide each news item with at least one photograph for illustrative purposes. It introduces the concept of the “visual quote” to show how news media workers will choose to either accommodate or distance themselves from amateur content under certain circumstances.
