Charlotte Klonk
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- May 2017
- ISBN:
- 9781526107213
- eISBN:
- 9781526120984
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Manchester University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7228/manchester/9781526107213.003.0010
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Media Studies
In the first part of this chapter pictorial norms that govern the reporting of terror attacks will be analysed. They constitute a frame that shapes expectations and has been in place since the ...
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In the first part of this chapter pictorial norms that govern the reporting of terror attacks will be analysed. They constitute a frame that shapes expectations and has been in place since the emergence of the phenomenon of modern terror at the end of the nineteenth century. In the second part the question of ethics is raised. Agreeing with many writers that acts of torture and violence need full documentation, but in a form that avoids intensifying the ‘exposure’ of the victim, the author argues that there are instances where we need to actively resist image operations by not participating in their production, circulation and consumption. The chapter concludes by suggesting that in the context of terror it is important to distinguish between affective images that have the power to remind us of the pain of others and those that numb us and should be resisted.Less
In the first part of this chapter pictorial norms that govern the reporting of terror attacks will be analysed. They constitute a frame that shapes expectations and has been in place since the emergence of the phenomenon of modern terror at the end of the nineteenth century. In the second part the question of ethics is raised. Agreeing with many writers that acts of torture and violence need full documentation, but in a form that avoids intensifying the ‘exposure’ of the victim, the author argues that there are instances where we need to actively resist image operations by not participating in their production, circulation and consumption. The chapter concludes by suggesting that in the context of terror it is important to distinguish between affective images that have the power to remind us of the pain of others and those that numb us and should be resisted.
