ABSTRACT
Visual imperatives dominate television journalism, and not just in news. Making factual programmes requires the broadcast journalist to capture pictures that drive the narrative, deliver content and provide contextual amplification. Some of these pictures may be startling, some dramatic, some beautiful. Some may tell a horrifying or harrowing story – prisoners being beaten by soldiers or a dramatic rescue at sea. Many programmes explore ideas and subjects that do not provide exotic locations or dramatic pictures but can tell a journalistically interesting story. Somehow the programme-maker must cajole, seduce and entice the audience into the programme’s story and then encourage them to stay with it. The quality, variety, juxtaposition and composition of the pictures are the keys.
