Dichotomy between War and Visualization of War: An Analysis of the War Photos Awarded by the WPP

Wars, having negative effects on local, national and global scales, violate the fundamental rights of living beings and, in general, cause irreversible casualties. War is a phenomenon that affects life itself and the entire social structure and institutions. Although death, physical injury, or psychological consequences are well known to war, their macro-level damage to the social structure is often overlooked. The mass media also tend to focus on the obvious consequences of the war while ignoring its structural impact on society.This research applies content analysis to the images of the war theme awarded in various categories by the World Press Photo Organization, towards inquiring to what extent possible impacts and consequences of wars are represented via such images. The study concludes that usually Western photojournalists create war narrative while the geography of conflict depicted is mostly non-Western. It also concluded that the war was visualized by themes such as death, injury and disability, displacement, hunger, and deprivation, that the moments of war are highlighted while its long-term implications are ignored; that war is portrayed without subjects by symbolic images, often indirect; and that war is viewed as a hierarchical field in terms of the perpetrator and the victim.