The interpretation boundary and the meaning generation in photojournalism

Abstract

This article discusses denotative and conotative meanings of images in the press and how people interpret them. Signification elements and resources employed by the photographic reporter to have the message reader get closer to the message he witnessed, pictured and wished to convey. The meaning generation – expression adopted by the academy to name the inductive process of reading used by the various communication channels, more directly the printed, through graphic, text and image resources –, the evidence of the constant use of this device by newspapers and an ethical discussion about the procedure of inducing reading.