ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the evolving dynamics of photo-reportage concerned with the US-led coalition’s invasion of Afghanistan war identifies and interrogates tensions in contrasting visual repertoires in its early months. News coverage of the bombing campaign revolved primarily around images of weaponry as a result, such as F-18 fighter-bombers lifting off from aircraft carriers, or Tomahawk cruise missiles being launched. For photojournalists intent on extending their work beyond sanctioned interpretive parameters, it was vital to generate imagery with the potential to disrupt the news media’s over-reliance on official sources intent on ‘spinning’ the conflict to advantage. Constraints enforced by military ‘escorts’ or ‘minders’ effectively compromised photojournalists’ ability to perform their assignments. Retaliation can take a variety of forms, of course, with Western photojournalists hardly immune from intimidating pressures to conform, in some cases by exercising self-censorship to stay ‘on message’ within a consolidating, militarised field of vision.
