Four Newspapers and One Picture
Posted: February 12, 2013 Filed under: Uncategorized 1 CommentBrian Snyder, a photojournalist for Thomson Reuters caught the attention of four major newspapers in the northeast with his photo that graced the cover of all of them.
A massive snow storm now named Nemo, blew through the northeast on Saturday, February 3rd. The storm left Boston under 36 inches of snow and killed at least four people in the north. The storm is something to be remembered because a state of emergency was called for Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York and Maine, so there should be a lot of photos to remember this chaotic storm, right?
This is not the case however because the same photo was shown on The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Washington Post and New York Post. Snyder said he did not know his photo was so popular until “people started sending him links about it” on Sunday. He describes the storm as windy, and the stuff falling hurting like needles, which is obviously shown in the photo of a person covering their self as much as possible with an umbrella.
Thomson Reuters “is the world’s leading source of intelligent information for businesses and professionals.” according to their website. They use technology to give information to
decision makers on topics like healthcare, taxes, and science all backed by a trusted news organization.
So with such a big storm and a major news story, why was the same photo used on four paper fronts? Do you feel like there was not enough photojournalist on site to capture a different side of the story? Is this just an easy outlet for these major newspapers? Or does Reuters supply information for most news organizations?
Public Affairs Journalism 
I saw this article and was surprised myself that one photo was featured on four major newspapers. The photo certainly captured the feel of the storm but I saw no reason why it was on four front pages. I would have expected a photo showing how deep the snow was or something along those lines. It appears there was a lack of photojournalists on site but perhaps the severity of the storm kept people from their jobs. However, a variety of photos would give the people who weren’t in the affected area a better understanding of how dangerous the storm was. It seems a little lazy for all four newspapers to use it on their cover.