ABSTRACT
This study evaluates the contribution of
photographs in newspaper cover page: An appraisal of the Punch newspaper. It is
obvious that photographs play a very prominent role in newspaper and the world
of print media in general especially when place in the cover page. It
communicates messages even to the illiterates. A newspaper without the use of
photograph will be noting but look like a letter or text book and such
publication cannot persuade readers. Also, photographs draw the attention of
the reader to the most prominent news and issue especially when placed at the
front page of a newspaper while placement also used to set agenda on what
public will debate upon that day. Survey method was adopted alongside the use
of questionnaire to gather data from the respondents of which a total of 110
questionnaires were printed and distributed among the newspaper readers in
Lagos, one hundred were returned. Findings showed that photograph not only draws
reader’s attention but also communicates significant message. Photojournalism
should therefore be taught separately in higher institutions just like many
institutions have separated marketing, public relations and advertising to
enable students have broad knowledge of the concepts. Photojournalists should
be trained and re-retrained to meet up with digital trends.
