The Time Dimension of Visual Journalism: The Rhythm of Photographic “Truth Claims”

Abstract

Using theories of rhythm, temporality and photography, this study explores how the rhythm of visual news flow is shaped in today’s newsrooms and how it affects the truth-telling mission of news journalism. The material on which the study is based was collected in 2024 through participant observation and interviews with visual professionals at a regional Finnish newspaper, at a national Swedish newspaper, and through interviews with Russian visual professionals working in newsrooms in exile. The results show that the 24-h news cycle of online news, where there is a constant need for new visual material, as well as new opportunities for slower visual journalism, creates a rhythm where images do not need to give evidence to certain specific moments in time. Although visual journalism professionals express a restrictive attitude towards AI-generated images and a protective attitude towards photography as a registration, truth claims tend to focus on ‘abstract’ and ‘emotive’ truths. New opportunities to obtain detailed information on user behaviour also affect the rhythm of how, what, when and where to publish, and newsrooms are struggling to find a rhythm that corresponds to users’ experience of living in media-saturated societies.