Historically, print news has focused on the importance of text and where images have been used, little attention is given to the function of these images in conveying news discourse. However, the relationship between the verbal and the visual deserves further attention. Images have a powerful impact on a viewer’s response towards news and this impact cannot be created by text alone. A critical examination of three recent news events (see appendix) and analysis of the images that they utilise, reveals the communicative functions and the connotative force that is carried in news photography (Bednarek and Caple 2012, pg. 57). By studying these photographs through analytical frameworks, we see that images embody much more than what is depicted within a frame and in fact they “have been worked on, chosen, composed, constructed and treated according to professional, aesthetic and ideological norms” for the purpose of engaging with their audiences (Bednarek and Caple 2012, pg. 57).
Prior to our analysis of the three articles, an overview of the analytical frameworks that will be used and their contribution to our understanding of news reporting must be investigated. News articles embody two different semiotic systems, language and image, which share an intersemiotic relationship (Bednarek and Caple 2012, pg. 121). Research of this relationship focuses on the textual strategies deployed in the newsroom to elicit responses from the audience, the words help drive the pictures while the pictures seem to also drive the words (Cope et al, n.d). Bednarek and Caple (2012, pg. 120) categorises the relationship between text and image into three relations: ‘overlap’, ‘displacement’ and ‘dichotomy.’ Overlap occurs when the visual and the text share the same action components, creating parallelism (Bednarek and Caple 2012). Displacement occurs when the visual and the text represent different action components but are still connected by the same event and dichotomy occurs when there is no obvious relation between the text and the visual (Bednarek and Caple 2012). At times, images can be regarded as partners in the retelling of news happenings and are capable of adding relevant information to the words. Therefore, as Bednarek and Caple (2012, pg. 135) states: it is important to develop specific frameworks for not just analysing the relationship between language and image, but also for a “systematic analysis of meanings to be made in the language and the image individually so that the two can be brought together.” Our focus turns to the construing of news values by both language and text.
News values have primarily been described in terms of the factors that take an event into the news, they are the preferences of the expected audience and it is news values that determine what makes something worthy of being news (Bednarek and Caple 2012, pg. 40). The values included in this study: Negativity, Timeliness, Proximity, Prominence, Consonance, Impact, Novelty, Superlativeness and Personalization are not finite and news values are not limited to these nine specific categories (Bednarek and Caple 2012, pg. 42). We conceptualize news values in terms of how newsworthiness is construed through linguistic rhetoric and imagery techniques. As Bednarek and Caple (2012, pg. 45) states, this discursive approach reveals that news values are not ‘inherent’ aspects of events or internalized beliefs but are actually constructed by language and image. The producers of news use linguistic devices to maximize news values, adapting specific choices in language, vocabulary, structure and word combinations. Similarly, technical and aesthetic considerations, such as angle and focus, along with other key photographic devices can be tied to the construing of news values in images. This will be investigated further in our analysis of the texts and in the appendix.
Furthermore, Bednarek and Caple believe that news values are actually enhanced “by construing the image as beautiful” (2012, pg. 178). The purpose of image composition is to create a visually compelling picture, arranging different elements inside an image frame in a way that would evoke the interest of the viewer. Drawing on Bednarek and Caple’s (2012, pg. 164) ‘Balance Framework,’ images can be described as either isolating (focusing on one element) or iterating (several elements), which is then further divided in other categories, depending on the images’ characteristics (i.e. whether the elements are matching, facing or scattered). This arrangement of elements within the image frame contributes to the aesthetic appeal of images. By combining the construing of news values with the meaningful compositional choices that are made in the images, journalists are ultimately drawing in and engaging their target audience.
Attached in the appendix is an analysis summary table of the all three texts. By comparing the analysis of three news stories from three different publishers, a comparison between the significant findings is offered and our understanding of the frameworks are enhanced. The image in The Telegraph of a young girl had the most aesthetic value. If we analyse this image using the ‘Balance Framework,’ we would get an isolating, axial composition configuration, which Bednarek and Caple argue is the “most aesthetically pleasing of the compositional choices for its ability to stimulate visual appeal” (2012, pg. 177). Although the two main elements in the image (the bowl of broccoli and Maisy) are away from the centre of the image, they are shown in relation to each other along the diagonal axis and the audience’s attention is drawn between the two. Interestingly, not all images actually fit the ‘balance framework.’ The first still image (image 2) in The Age’s article is definitely iterating and dividing, but does not satisfy the criteria of matching, mirroring or facing. Similarly, not every photograph manages to construe news value. Based on the image itself, image 3 (see appendix) does not embody any news values. However, once we read the caption and realise that he is carrying 23 kilograms of sugar, superlativeness is then shown because the amount of sugar has been maximized. This highlights the importance of studying the intersemiotic relationship between images and their surrounding text.
Image 3’s caption ‘overlaps’ the image and actually helps us to comprehend what is happening within the frame. However, not every caption paralleled their respective images (see image 4) and in fact, every text had language (whether this may be its headline, its body or its captions) that shared a dichotomy relationship with their images. For example, The Age’s article composed an amount of text that specifically targeted GST and tax, which represents different actions to that of which are depicted in images 2 and 3. In fact, even the headline of the ABC’s article shared a ‘dichotomy’ relationship with its image. However, the one similarity between all three texts was the presence of a ‘displacement’ text-image relation. In these situations, the texts combined with the image to add related information to the story, or they were connected by the same events (i.e. sugar in soft drinks or eating vegetables). Furthermore, although a variety of news values are construed between the three articles, one news value is present amongst all three: proximity. What is newsworthy usually concerns the country or city in which the news is published, as Cope et al. (n.d) states: “if it hits close to home, it’s probably going into the news.” Ultimately, the issues in the texts will become ‘relevant’ to us if they are “Australian issues” regarding “Australian health” and if have an impact on our “Australian children” (Harcup and O’Neill 1999).
Analysis of these texts reveals encoded news values in the discourse that we read. Press photographs have been carefully selected from a number of possible choices, and specific language is used to generate particular connotations (Bignell 2002, pg. 94). The analysis of the texts shows that the producers are actually producing news in a way that will address specific audiences. The fact that all three texts are online reveals that the socio-historical context of these texts is bringing about a distinct shift in the way we engage with news, as the audience divert their attention from print to a video screen (Bednarek and Caple 2012, pg. 119). This digitalisation of news has allowed for a rhetorical organisation of images and text within a single page, equipping news organisations with a tool to engage their target audience (Cope n.d, pg. 4).
Bignell (2002) claims that photographs will gain some of their meaningfulness from the newspaper context in which they appear. The newspaper itself becomes a message and it will give rise to certain expectations about the kinds of news that we will expect to see and hence a specific audience will be attracted to a certain newspaper (Bignell 2002, pg. 95). The analysed texts are all related to health and as previously mentioned; proximity is construed in all three texts making these articles relevant in some way to all Australian audiences. However, looking at The Age’s website reveals that their online audiences were: “60% more likely than the general population to earn a personal income of $80K+” (Anon, 2012) and they had a larger concentration of AB readers. On the other hand, the audience of The Telegraph is larger, they are of varying ages, and the working statuses of the audience has a greater variation, with most of their audience being in the category of ‘Retired’ or ‘Skilled/Semi/Unskilled’ (Anon, 2012). Does this disparity between the target audiences influence the content that the news outlets publish?
The Age’s article focuses on a national campaign that is pushing for a tax on soft drinks and a limit on advertising. The voices in the article are attributed to the conflicting parties as they debate over this implementation of tax on sugary products. On the contrary, in The Telegraph, “it turns out that mum was right – you really should eat your greens.” This light-hearted sentence was the lead and has a focus on family, similarly, the article ends with young Maisy asking her dad if Carrots will help her see in the dark. Furthermore, Bruce Docherty, an ordinary father of two kids, is given a voice, and his daughter is the centre of attention of the main photograph, placed at the top of the screen, right underneath the headline. This photograph was the only image, of the four, that construed personalization (see appendix). A close up shot of Maisy depicts her emotions and the background refers to a ‘typical’ kitchen, referring to an ordinary home. The text-image relation in the article is mainly ‘displacement,’ allowing the producers to include this aesthetic image along with text that describe the research and the benefits of broccoli. Although the actions depicted in the text and the image are at times different, they are connected by the same event (eating broccoli), and hence this “Isolating, Axial” image is included not just to add relevant information but combines with linguistic rhetoric to create discourse that The Telegraph’s audience will find emotionally appealing.
The ABC’s editorial policies state: that “the ABC recognizes that social and political activity, including robust debate, is a necessary and desirable aspect of a healthy democratic community.” With the invention of Web 2.0, this becomes more apparent, as all three texts allow us to share these articles across various media platforms. In fact, The Age actually has an open comment section below the article. The photograph used by the ABC (image 4) isolates a single, close-up element and is also placed at the beginning of the article, right under the headline. The audience is immediately drawn towards the picture because of the superlativeness shown in the image. Although the headline reads: “New diet guidelines spark sugar debate,” and represents different actions to that of which are depicted in the image, the ABC’s editorial fulfills its ‘audience participation’ policies by placing a photo, which construes ‘impact,’ right under the headline, allowing the audience to engage in “robust debate” as they question and comment on our ‘necessity to follow these new diet guidelines.’ Furthermore, although consonance is shown in the photo, by including a ‘stereotypical’ picture of an overweight woman eating an ice cream, the ABC endorses ‘integrity and respect amongst participants’ and hence the face of the woman in the image is cropped out.
In conclusion, news media speak “to, about and for their audience.” This relationship between news discourses, the producers of the news discourse and the audience of news discourses is what Bednarek and Caple call the “Communicative context” of news. Furthermore, we see that the visual medium demands our attention (Cope et al. n.d, pg. 8). By construing an image for both newsworthiness and compositional value, these images are able to evoke emotional responses. Readers are likely to feel more emotionally involved when a photograph is present in a news story (Cope et al. n.d, pg. 11). By combining pictures with words makes the message even more memorable and this is enhanced by digitalization of news, where text-image relations are construed rhetorically to engage the audience. Similarly, this text-image relation allows the image to illustrate the text and for the text to make the image come a live. By analysing the three texts, the connotative force of images becomes apparent and we see that journalists utilise images in relation to the texts to impact an audience in a way that words alone won’t accomplish.

Appendix: Text ONE: Daily Telegraph | Composition Analysis: | News Values Analysis: | Text-image relations: | Headline: Greens kill cancer genesImage ONE/caption:B
A
| Isolating, Axial: Although the two main elements in the image (the bowl of broccoli and the young girl) are both in the foreground and both in focus, they are away from the centre of the image and are shown in relation to each other along the diagonal axis. | In visual text:Personalization: - Visually focusing on an ordinary girl with a close up shot that depicts her laughing and showing emotion. - The background depicts a ‘typical’ kitchen, referring to an ordinary home. In verbal text:Proximity: - References to place: University of Sydney is mentioned and so is Swisse (an Australian supplements brand). - The Pharmaceutical professor quotes: ‘Australian-grown ginger’ will help diabetes. Consonance: - “It turns out that mum was right – you really should eat your greens” (the lead). Sounds like a ‘you should have known’ attitude.Personalization: - There are quotes from Bruce Docherty, an ordinary Australian dad with two kids who live in Caringbah. Prominence: - Use of role labels: “Pharmaceutical Chemistry professor Basil Roufogalis.” | Overlap: - The caption and the image share overlap. Displacement: - The Headline still talks about “Greens” (broccoli) but adds more information to what is presented in the image (broccoli fights cancer). - Text: describes the benefits of broccoli, research on it and the science behind it. Image: the girl is just eating broccoli, but they are connected by the same event (eating broccoli). Dichotomy: - Writing that focuses solely on cell functions and blood glucose represent different actions to that of which are depicted in the image. | Text TWO: The Age | Composition: | News Values Analysis: | Text-image relations: | Headline: Push to tax sugary drinks to fight obesityImage TWO/caption:Image THREE/caption: | IMAGE 2:This image does not fit the “Balance Framework.” It is definitely iterating and dividing because there are two main elements. However, they are not matching, mirroring or facing. IMAGE 3:Isolating, Centred, Triptych:The man is centrally located and is the main element within the frame. However, he is shown in relation to two separate elements either side of him (the filled up bucket and the red can of coke). | In visual text:IMAGE 2:Novelty/Unusuality:- The man on the right is drinking Solo in a ridiculous amount. Superlativeness: - There are two maximized elements within the frame. First, the amount of sugar being poured into the cup and second, the amount of Solo being consumed by the man. IMAGE 3: - Based just on the image alone: I don’t see any news values. Without the caption and the text, the photo doesn’t seem value laden. However, once we know that it is sugar (based on the caption), the image then shows superlativeness, because the amount of sugar is being maximized. In verbal text: Novelty: - Talks about a man eating 16 sachets of sugar in a bar.Superlativeness: - Consuming 600mL of soft drink everyday, for a year, will amount to 23 kilograms of sugar. Proximity: - Talks about Australian Children and impact on their health.- ‘Australian beverages council.’- ‘Relevance for the local market.’Negativity: - Compares unhealthy foods to smoking tobacco. - It is drawing the attention from the Cancer Council. - Negative vocabulary: ‘overweight or obese,’ ‘inherently not right.’Prominence: - Role labels are used: Chairman of the public health committee at the Cancer Council, Australian Beverages Council Chief Executive. Personalization:- Reference to an individual: Craig Padayachee. Talks about his childhood and personal experience. | Overlap: - Both captions overlap their respective images. However, only the left side of image 2 overlaps with the caption. Displacement: - Images: shows someone demonstrating the amount of sugar in soft drinks.Text: talks about the amount of sugar consumed yearly by drinking soft drinks and then adds information about the effects and provides comments from prominent people. - Image: shows Craig holding a can. Text: Craig Padayachee talks about his personal experience of drinking 3 cans a day, adding more information.- Headline: push to tax sugar drinks to fight obesity. Image: doesn’t represent tax but attempts to justify the amount of sugar in soft drinks.
*In these situations, either the text combines with the image to add related information to the story, or they are connected by the same events (sugar in soft drinks and obesity). Dichotomy: - When the text talks purely about GST and tax, there is dichotomy. |

Text THREE: ABC | Composition: | News Values in Image: | Text-image relations: | Headline: New diet guidelines spark sugar debateImage FOUR/caption: | Isolating, Centred, Single:- The image frame is filled up by a close up shot of a single element and the viewer immediately begins to engage with it. The ladies’ face is cut off probably for confidentiality, but our attention is brought towards her body and what she is doing. | In visual text:Consonance:
- At first I was going to argue for Novelty/Surprise, but then I realised that this isn’t unusual and doesn’t really surprise. It does the opposite. An overweight lady is eating ice cream, which is seen as typical behaviour and a stereotype. Impact: - The close up shot of the lady’s body shows the repercussions of over consuming sugar. Superlativeness:- This picture is at the top of the webpage and the woman in the image is strategically photographed. There could have been a picture of any overweight person, but they picked an exaggerated example. The bigger he/she is the more newsworthy it becomes. In verbal text:Prominence: - Role labels: Public Health Association Chief Executive; Professor.Proximity: - Reference to place: “Australian newly-release dietary guidelines.”Timeliness: - Reference to time: “Newly-released,” “…has been argued about for decades.” Negativity: - Negative vocabulary: “rising rates of obesity and overweight,” “obesity epidemic.” Superlativeness: - “60 percent of adults and 25 percent of children are overweight.” | Displacement:- Image: someone obese is consuming sugar. Text: concerns obesity, its possible relation to the consumption of sugar and a limit on sugar. They are connected by the same event (consumption of sugar) and more information is added to the image by the text. Dichotomy: - Caption: relates to Grocery council’s opposition towards a limit on added sugar. Image: doesn’t relate to Grocery Council’s opposition.- Headline: talking about diet guidelines causing a debate over sugar. Image: doesn’t relate to diet guidelines or debates. |

References:
- Anon, 2011, ABC’s editorial policies: Principles and Standards, ABC, viewed 14 April 2013, http://about.abc.net.au/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/EditorialPOL2011.pdf
- Anon, 2012, The Daily Telegraph Readership, The Newspaper Works, viewed 14 April 2013, http://www.thenewspaperworks.com.au/newspaper/the-daily-telegraph
- Anon, 2012, The Age Newspaper Overview, Fairfax Media, viewed 14 April 2013, http://adcentre.com.au/brands/the-age/#tabs/1004
- Bednarek, M and Caple H 2012, News Discourse, Continuum, London.
- Bignell, J 2002, Media Semiotics: An Introduction, 3rd edn, Manchester University Press, Manchester
- Chadwick, V 17 January 2013, Push to tax sugary drinks to fight obesity, The Age, viewed 14 April 2013, http://www.theage.com.au/lifestyle/diet-and-fitness/push-to-tax-sugary-drinks-to-fight-obesity-20130116-2ctwd.html#ixzz2IHpMDwyp
- Cope et al. n.d, Image Impact in Print Media: A Study of How Pictures Influence News Consumers, University of Oklahoma, viewed 14 April 2013, http://www.ou.edu/deptcomm/dodjcc/groups/05B/paper.pdf
- Harcup, T and O’Neill, D 1999, What is news?, viewed 14 April 2013, http://www.adamranson.plus.com/Harcup.pdf
- Lentini, R 2012, Greens kill cancer genes, The Daily Telegraph, viewed 14 April 2013, http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/lifestyle/cancer-fighting-greens/story-e6frf00i-1226442471872
- Vincent et al. 19 February 2013, New Diet Guidelines spark sugar debate, ABC News, viewed 14 April 2013, http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-02-19/new-diet-guidelines-spark-debate-on-sugar/4526174