Pictures are powerful. Besides having high artistic value, a good photo will say a lot about a particular event, time or place. In other words, it will tell a story.
But news photos are always accompanied by cutlines. Why? From the Poynter Institute:
Photos tend to communicate in an impressionistic way; they are rarely as precise or clear as verbal communication. They beg for confirmation in words.
The Chinese media are atrociously bad at delivering good cutlines. Admittedly, I’m super weak at writing heds and cutlines myself, but I don’t think China has understood there is an art behind them yet. Perhaps it can be attributed to the repression of knowledge by the Chinese government; the Chinese simply aren’t accustomed to get more information and more details, details, details. Whatever it is, it has produced a lot of redundant and un-newsworthy junk.
Here are some basic guidelines to good cutlines, and infractions by Chinese media.
- Add value to the picture with specific information. Don’t simply describe the action in the photo, particularly if it is obvious.
An old man stands in his grocery store. (This is the original; my attempt to make it better isn’t really any better.)
- Avoid making judgments. “An unhappy citizen watches the protest…” Can you be sure that he is unhappy? Or is he hurting. Or just not photogenic. If you must be judgmental, be sure you seek the truth.
- Don’t let cutlines recapitulate information in the head or deck or summary. By extension, they shouldn’t recapitulate information in another photo.
Workers water flowers hanging on street lamps near a church. [1] [2]
U.S. President Barack Obama, accompanied by First Lady Michelle Obama and First Daughters Malia and Sasha, walks towards Marine One on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington D.C. Dec. 24, 2009. [1] [2] [3]
It can also be argued that the real problem is alack of good photos. It is nearly impossible to write a good cutline for most of these examples.