Last Updated on 05/03/2024 by Chris Gampat
If you’re in the media industry or work in photography, you probably know that photojournalism is heavily underfunded as is investigative journalism. Times have changed from the days of 60 Minutes and the earliest days of VICE. However, that hasn’t stopped journalists from trying to do their jobs. Most recently, the Catchlight Global Fellowship worked to give three photographers a $30,000 grant to continue doing their work. But is it enough?
All images by the respective photographers. Permission is granted on behalf of Catchlight Global Fellowship.
Is $30,000 Enough?
To put this in perspective, it’s really difficult to live on $30,000 a year in the US. You could have roommates, a rich partner, and do other gigs on the side. But you’re probably not going to make it in a big city. That idea is reinforced by Harlan Bozeman, one of the awardees. “The majority of the funds will be allocated towards acquiring equipment and materials for upcoming photography workshops in Elaine, Arkansas,” Harland tells the Phoblographer. “The fellowship funding will significantly enhance the reach and influence of my work as an image-maker focusing on social practice.” Harlan’s work puts the overlooked history of racial violence in the area under a magnifying glass. His work has been collaborative with the town’s residents and draws roots from the 1919 Red Summer.
It’s possible that you haven’t heard of this, and neither have I. But during that summer, there was a lot of violence towards sharecroppers — specifically the African Americans there. After a white man died in a firefight, the governor called in 500 soldiers who killed 200 African Americans. What happened then still affects people today.
“I do a lot of outreach, locally and out-of-state, that consists of public talks, virtual studio visits, exhibitions, and interviews/articles in print publications,” says Bozeman about getting the word out. He doesn’t do much with social media.
Harlan’s work takes a more domestic approach, while Johanna Alarcon, another awardee, is working internationally. She strives to tell the stories of indigenous Amazonian women in Ecuador who work to defend more than eight million hectares of rainforest against extractive industries and colonialism. They often face violence, displacement, etc.
“This money will allocated to develop a storytelling program with Amazonian Indigenous Women Land defenders in Ecuador to create and exchange visual diaries with their own stories, expressions and representations that explore the conservation of the environment from a spiritual, cultural and political life led by the new generations of Ai Cofàn, Waorani and Siekopai women,” Johanna tells the Phoblographer. “In addition to creating a photographic-multimedia essay that represents the symbolic relationship between the territory and themselves as geographies in resistance. The objective is to make visible the defense of the land led by indigenous women and disclose other imaginaries about their identities to reduce discrimination and criminalization of their struggle.” She also wants to set up workshops and a local exhibition.
To the Instagram generation of photographers, this sounds like a lot of money. But in truth, it isn’t — but it can go further in areas with less economic disparity. But the real-world and Instagram are two different places — one is driven by a dopamine rush while the other is real-life. So Johanna wants to amplify the word with exhibitions worldwide and more interviews with the media.
How Algorithms Silence Photojournalists
Algorithms on social media often silence the news if people haven’t taken the negativity out of their feeds to begin with. It’s becoming an even bigger problem with AI, misinformation, and the mass amount of misery that’s happening in the world. Folks often complain that the news is depressing — but they don’t acknowledge that these are the things we need to hear about.
To counter the news, social media algorithms often pander to commercial needs. Did you just turn 30 years old as a man? Then maybe the algorithms think that you might have erectile dysfunction. Are you trying to find a way to dress better? Well, perhaps the social media algorithms will serve you ads for a dating app.
The algorithms aren’t doing us any good. In fact, Johanna thinks that because they change so often, it limits the visibility of the topics photojournalists like her are trying to get the message out on. She finds it overwhelming. “I think that beyond silencing or amplifying our voices, sometimes these spaces coexist with the stories we work on and other times they don’t,” she states. “The policies, formats, and audiences of these spaces do not always make sense with the projects we work on, but they are very powerful as a common space where we find ourselves connected.” But she’s not the only one who finds it mind boggling.
Harlan, in fact, doesn’t post a lot of his work on social media. “…we all understand that certain content is prioritized over others,” he shares. “If your work addresses sensitive or controversial topics, it may be deprioritized in favor of more mainstream or less confrontational content. While this influences visibility, it also reinforces what is deemed popular or palatable by supporting long existing biases.” This, in turn, causes others to only feed the attention economy — which degrades photojournalism.