Journalistische Wirklichkeitserzählungen und fotografische Bilder

Abstract

Photos are, like texts, a core means of representation in print as well as in online-journalism. Photos can already indicate a narration. Because of this fact they can be combined with texts to develop complex narrative structures. However, problems arise when there are no photos available of the event itself. In these cases metonymic and metaphoric relations between text and photo are established and used. Looking at the story (histoire), the following essay argues that in the first case narrative structures are established bottom-up and in the second case top-down. Considering the level of discourse, metonymic text-photo relations show an affinity to the communicative act of reporting, whereas metaphoric relations lean towards the communicative act of storytelling.