The Voice of Visual Evidence

Performance Theory, the MacGyver Factor, and Photojournalistic Authority

Bibliographic Data

ID21747713
AuthorsM A Bock (0000-0003-3022-9706, The University of Texas at Austin, corresponding author)
Year2025
Volume32
Issue1
Pages3-16
Publication date2025-01-02
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueVisual Communication Quarterly (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1555-1393 • E-ISSN: 1555-1407
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/15551393.2025.2452929
OpenAlexW4406315478
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited57

Historically, journalism’s claims to authority for photojournalistic work have largely rested on the camera’s technical perfection. Digital media, including AI, have disrupted this authority, as it is now possible not just to alter a photographic image but to construct one with merely a prompt. This article argues that the crisis of photographic truth requires a paradigmatic shift and suggests that performance theory offers conceptual remedy. Performance theory, with its roots in anthropology and emphasis on embodiment, is offered as lens for studying photojournalism, shifting from the examination of texts to the photojournalists themselves. With its emphasis on human action, performance theory offers a new way of thinking about just what it is that photojournalists do and how their practice constructs visual evidence—pointing a way forward in the age of deep fakes

Computer Science · Literature, Film, and Journalism Analysis · Media Studies and Communication · Psychology · Rhetoric and Communication Studies

Tools

Open DOI