Sooner State Press (Norman, Okla.), Vol. 29, No. 43, Ed. 1 Saturday, July 17, 1937 Page: 4 of 4
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Is News Photography Going Beyond the Realms
Of Decency?
THE last few years have seen a great-
er demand for pictures in news-
papers With this new trend in the
use of art the apparent demand of the
reading public has been for more strik-
ing pictures I have attempted a sur-
vey of news photographers as to their
reactions toward this new trend Is
news photography going beyond the
realms of decency?
I selected such a
topic for research
because many peo-
ple feel that pic-
tures as now used
in newspapers are
becoming a “little
indecent” They
feel that editors are
taking too many
liberties with pic-
tures In my study I
circulated question-
naires among the
following photog- Wesley Hunmcutt
faphers all of
whom attended the university’s first
annual short course in news photog-
raphy at Norman in April: Buel White
of the Springfield (Mo) Leader-Press
Ed Alford Muskogee Phoenix and
Times-Democrat William Vandivert
Life magazine Jess Gibson Houston
(Tex) Chronicle Jack Price Editor
& Publisher and William J Shroder
Daily Oklahoman Oklahoma City
I submitted to each man a list of
30 or more questions At the same
time I personally interviewed them and
secured additional information
To question number 1 “In your
opinion do pictures add a great deal
to the interest shown in a paper?” I
found all six men agreed that they did
To question number 2 “If so what
percentage of the interest shown in a
newspaper is due to the picture lay-
outs which that particular paper runs?”
I found disagreement
Two said that approximately 50 per
cent “should catch it” William Van-
divert of Life didn’t submit any exact
figure one photographer said 40 per
cent one took 75 per cent and the
sixth named 85 per cent
From these figures I should judge
that at least 50 per cent of the interest
shown in a newspaper is due to the
picture layouts
I wish to explain that William Van-
divert didn’t attempt to answer some
of the questions giving as his reason
the fact that he as a news cameraman
on a magazine was not qualified to
answer these
The third question was “Do you be-
lieve that the people of 50 years ago
had as much interest in the pictures as
people seemingly do today? If not
give reasons” I found that all the
photographers interviewed were agreed
that the people of 50 years ago did not
have as much interest as present-day
readers have
Some of the reasons given for this
were that candid pictures have come
into use catching the subject in un-
posed and natural positions which the
public likes that poor pictures were
By Wesley Hunnicutt
June Graduate of the School of Journalism
University of Oklahoma
used a half century ago that pictures
at that time were not far enough ad-
vanced and that people were un-
educated as to the real value of pic-
tures Five of the photographers believe the
picture can really tell the story while
Buel White of Springfield said that
it could at times
TO THE question “How many
words do you think the picture is
really equal to?” I found some varied
answers
Buel White wouldn’t estimate Ed
Alford gave 1000 as his answer Van-
divert gave no answer Jess Gibson
said that it would depend on the pic-
ture Jack Price said any amount and
Shroder said 400 or 4000 depending
on the picture
I’ll grant that this question is some-
what vague and hard to answer
To the question “Do you believe
that the public today would accept the
type of picture run in newspapers 50
years ago?” I found disagreement
again
Jack Price and Jess Gibson thought
the public would while Shroder Al-
ford and White didn’t think so and
Vandivert refused to cast a vote
Different opinions were found on
what has brought about the changes in
news pictures today as compared with
those of earlier days Candid shots
were mentioned by one cameraman as
the cause Reader-demand was given
by another and science was cited by a
third
All believed that this change was
necessary
None of them with the exception of
Vandivert thought that the reading
public likes the gruesome sordid pic-
ture He said yes and pointed to cir-
culation figures of many of our news-
papers as proof
To the question as to why the news-
paper often uses gruesome pictures
now several different answers were
given
White said that it was because of a
desire for variety Alford said that
newspapers are becoming more broad-
minded Vandivert did not answer
Price said that the gruesome picture
often was necessary to serve a special
purpose Gibson said that it was a
good circulation builder and Shroder
pointed out that it helped circulation
more liberality is practiced and we
have a morbid reading public
Three of the photographers were of
the opinion that sensational pictures
appealed to the lower classes two said
that all classes were interested and
one said only the masses
THE VOTE on the twelfth question
“Do you think that the sensational
picture appeals to the man in the
metropolitan district more than to the
man in the small town?” was equally
divided Three said yes and three gave
a negative answer
Now to the main question of this en-
tire questionnaire: “Do you believe
that news pictures are going beyond
the realms of decency?”
Five said that they were not and
‘ Bill Shroder said “Yes and no” Will-
iam Vandivert said that pictures are in
reality getting cleaner
No photographer aproved of all the
pictures that newspapers use today
with the exception of Bill Shroder His
answer was: “All but the boring ones”
All the photographers agreed that
we are due to see greater changes in
news photography
White believes that we shall see
more and better candid shots j Alford
asserts that reproduction facilities are
to be improved Vandivert says we will
see advances in all directions Gibson
thinks that the photographer will be-
come better educated — in just what
respect he didn't say Price believes
we shall see change m operation but
not in pictorial value and Shroder
sees more color better artistic com-
position and more humor in pictures
In predicting the future of the pic-
ture section the cameramen gave
varied answers
White predicted color Alford failed
to make predictions Vandivert sees a
posible change toward more color
Price simply said “great” and Shroder
said that color will become dominant
Gibson made an off-the-record answer
IN SUMMING UP the information
1 gathered from this research among
these photographers I find that ( ac-
cording to their own individual beliefs
the following statements are true:
Pictures are a great asset to the
newspaper people 50 years ago didn’t
have the interest in pictures that the
reading public does today pictures
can really tell the story how much a
picture is worth in words will depend
on the picture itself the public today
probably would not be willing to ac-
cept the pictures run 50 years ago im-
provements in photography science
reader-demand and the like have
brought about the change in news
photography the public does not like
the gruesome sordid picture the
sensational picture appeals to the lower
classes we are due to see greater
changes in news photography mostly
in operation finally color will charac-
terize the newspaper of the future
All are emphatic in asserting that
pictures are not becoming indecent
To supplement this study I went
thru 12 back issues of Life and found
no pictures that could really be classed
as indecent I selected Life because it
publishes all types of pictures more
liberally than any other magazine in
my opinion In fact it seems to me
that Life is becoming more conserva-
tive in its handling of news pictures
As a conclusion from the research
carried out I would say that news
photography is not going beyond the
realms of decency
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University of Oklahoma Press. Sooner State Press (Norman, Okla.), Vol. 29, No. 43, Ed. 1 Saturday, July 17, 1937, newspaper, July 17, 1937; Norman, Oklahoma. (https://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc1824937/m1/4/: accessed June 15, 2024), The Gateway to Oklahoma History, https://gateway.okhistory.org; crediting Oklahoma Historical Society.