Visual storytelling is extremely important. It is used in industries across communications, business, sciences, and so many more. The dependence on visuals has become especially apparent in journalism and public relations (PR). This presentation gives a deeper look into the type of visuals used in these two fields and why they are so impactful. Although they are used in different ways and for different purposes, the idea is still the same.
Visuals in Journalism & Public Relations
8 responses to “Visuals in Journalism & Public Relations”
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Hello, Katie! First off, I want to say that I enjoyed your ignite presentation and found it to be very similar to mine. I like how you split up the two industries, journalism, and public relations, and described the different functions of visuals in each, ending your ignite with how they tied together. I completely agree that no one would be as impacted by news reports on TV if it was just a reporter standing there speaking, the visuals and design showcased throughout news reports have undeniable power. I also couldn’t agree more that these visuals make people feel something and give them a better understanding of the world around them.
Switching to PR, I connected to what you were saying about images and visuals being utilized to keep a brand alive and to show consumers or viewers why they should support a brand rather than telling them why. This is definitely why social media and image-based platforms are on the rise and more popular than ever as they allow for these images to be shared, boost brand recognition, engagement, and views by simply clicking a “post” or “share” button.
Lastly, I loved how you tied both industries together through visuals by stating the statistics: We connect with visuals 60,000 faster than words and 65% of people are visual learners. This helped inform listeners of their true value. I also liked how you brought emotions into it by discussing the role of connections to visuals through relatability and how it is very impactful, especially for younger generations, as these connections are rooted in trust and authenticity. I would love to see your final paper compare and contrast these two fields more deeply while tying them both together and discussing the undeniable power of visuals and how both fields would be at a loss without them.
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Hi Katie,
I thought your ignite presentation was great! I thought your chosen topic, was very interesting. I think your presentation did a great job of highlighting the shift from a written to a visual focus in journalism and public relations. I thought you defined the differences between PR and journalism in terms of their objectives and strategies very well. I like that you emphasized the power visuals have in conveying information and creating emotional connections with audiences. You also talked about the WED mindset in journalism and the role of visuals in PR campaigns, which added a lot of depth and clarity to your presentation. For your final essay, I think it would be interesting if you included specific examples or case studies from notable journalism and PR campaigns that effectively utilized visuals. I think this would provide a good illustration of the concepts you have discussed. I also think you could talk about the ethical considerations and challenges that come with relying on visuals in journalism and PR. For example, you could talk about visuals’ impact on objectivity and the potential of manipulated or fake visuals. Overall your presentation was well-structured and informative. Good luck with your final paper!LikeLike
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Katie, I was drawn to your presentation because I have a background in sports broadcast journalism. I’m now a high school television production teacher, but a journalist by trade. You are SO right when you say that today, “people use technology to show rather than to tell.” So much of what we process in today’s journalism is visually. Most of the writing, as you eloquently pointed out, does not need to go as in depth because the writers are expected to include a number of visuals to help tell their stories.
I thought you were well-prepared and organized for your presentation. You have a great speaking voice, and although I could tell you were reading from notes, you still presented it in a clear, ranging voice that was pleasant to listen to. You tied it all together. You had a strong introduction that told me what you were presenting and how you were going to present it.
I love how you tied in the W.E.D. from Module 4.You did an excellent job comparing and contrasting public relations and journalistic styles in today’s world. The old world of “subscribers” or “newspapers sold” has been replaced by “clicks” and “downloads.” Our attention span has shortened significantly. We’re less attracted to the words as we are the visuals. It’s critical to get the viewers attention in either profession.
Stay on this track for the final essay and just expand on your presentation. There is so much content and information online, you should have no problem adding extra references and doing a great job with this!
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Hi Katie,
I think your Ignite presentation was very well said! We even had some overlap in ours because we were conveying very similar messages. As a fellow journalist, I cannot agree more about having a goal of authenticity. I think you did a good job of clearly defining both the differences and similarities between journalists and public relations specialists. Ignite presentations are all about making your viewers informed with the most essential and interesting elements of a topic, which is exactly what you did. I even liked how you showed examples of pictures taken by photojournalists that people could recognize as significant. This further proved the point about how dire visuals are for storytelling and the significant impact that they have. In your final project, I would be really curious to see you talk about the challenges between PR and journalists. Although the fields are very similar, they’re often on opposite sides of the battlefield and can butt heads. This would be interesting to expand on considering how similar their goals are at the end of the day and how many journalists often go into public relations, like you mentioned. I also liked how you incorporated a bit of science into your presentation to help viewers understand why pictures are more effective. I included this in my presentation as well and I would recommend expanding on the science even further in your final project as well.
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Journalism and public relations are often the front runners for excellent examples in visual storytelling, as for almost any situation, a good image can tell a story better than any writing can. It can move an audience and show rather than tell what is happening worldwide. You can capture the essence of these mediums and showcase exactly what makes these so important to society. The images support your topic well, and you had a great flow throughout the presentation that made it feel professional and not rushed, like most ignite presentations end up. When creating your final project, lean more into journalism and public relations as a whole, what the job looks like, and what makes it so important to us. You can even include references to some of the most successful uses of visual storytelling within journalism, how photo essays can often bring more attention and emotional depth to a story, and anything else you can think of! You have a great foundation to work on, so all it takes is bringing it together with some additional evidence.
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Hi Katie! I really enjoyed your presentation. You did a really good job at explaining WED and how it’s used in journalism. You also did a good job differentiating journalism and PR plus showing their similarities. I like how you explained how PR professionals and journalists focus on images the most because our brains are designed to digest images better than text. For your final project, I think it would be interesting to take an image or event and compare how a journalist would report it vs how a PR company would present it. The infographic of John F. Kennedy’s votes would be a good example to elaborate on and explain how a journalist keeps their bias out of it while PR would use it to Kennedy’s benefit. I think you could also tie more scientific research / evidence on how the brain takes a play into how we perceive images and how our emotions affect our actions. I think you can also further explain the power of both journalism and PR and how it’s consumed every day. Whether it be on social media, a logo on a product, TV, magazine or newspaper, journalism and PR surrounds us. Overall, I think your topics are very interesting and have lots of points to cover!
—Melanie Careri
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Hi Katie! I really enjoyed your presentation and I found it very engaging. I found the visuals you chose to be engaging and helped to construct your argument. I think your topic is very interesting as many people often group together both journalism and public relations. I think highlighting the importance of visuals in both public relations and journalism is a good way to sperate the two career fields and show how visuals can be used in different ways. I believe visuals are just as important in print journalism as they are in broadcast journalism. I think you have a strong foundation for your final and I look forward to reading the final product. Keep up the good work!
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Hi Katie, I thought your presentation was very well-organized and engaging! I liked how you compared and contrasted public relations and journalism alongside each other because images/visuals are so important in both of these fields but are used in different ways. I also had not heard of the W.E.D method before and I thought you explained it very well – I would like to hear more about how design is implemented in journalism to contribute to the topic. I often think of journalism, especially breaking news, as being very objective and factual and I was wondering how design is usually considered. The examples you used for both fields also did a great job of accentuating your points – journalistic visuals are meant to evoke emotion in a viewer and contribute to telling the story where PR visuals such as branding also work to gain visibility but also reinforce the story of a singular brand. Something else I wondered was if there are instances of journalism and PR working together to tell a specific story? I think it would be interesting to hear more about how the two fields can intersect and in that case where each would play to their strengths. Overall I really liked your presentation and I thought you picked an interesting and important topic!
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Katie Coen 
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