BANNER PHOTOS WAY TO THE GATE

A Thesis Presented to the Graduate School Panel of Evaluators

Department of Literature, Languages and Communication

In partial fulfilment for the degree

Masters of Arts in Communication
College of Arts and Sciences
Cebu Normal University

By
Flornisa Marie M. Gitgano

Chapter 1
THE PROBLEM AND ITS SCOPE

Rationale of the Study

A banner photo in a newspaper is sometimes tragic, happy, interesting or even

political. By just looking at the photo placed on the banner page, one can easily get an
idea what it tries to convey.
Humans have always been more of a visual species than a verbal one (Lewis, 1).
In the ancient times, ancestors used scriptures and symbols to lead someone to a
specific place. Just like the ancient Egyptians, they used symbols and drawings inside
the pyramids to give the history of the place. Treasure hunters have been using symbols
in locating the gold and precious jewels hidden in caves. In short, one can easily
understand the message by looking at a photo compared to a whole story that readers
would take time to read.
Author Greg Lewis (8) mentions in his book Photojournalism Content and
Technique Second Edition that photojournalism informs, motivates and gives someone
facts and information at a first look.
Lewis states that photojournalism is words and pictures working together.
He further stated that photojournalism, then, is words and pictures, intends for
reproduction that try to produce an honest visual report of what happened in a form
understandable to others. (Lewis, 10)

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In the newspaper, photos and news stories are taken and gathered in a day
before it comes out the next day. Just like news stories, photos that are published in the
newspapers are chosen according their news values. These news values include
proximity, prominence, timeliness, conflict, oddity and consequence. It is not necessary
to have all these news values in the photo. One of these news values may already
affects a number of readers. Once photos are submitted to the newsroom, editors filter
the photos to determine which should come out and what pages should these are
placed.
News stories are supported with photos to give the reader a simpler idea what
the story is about. The photo that lands on the front page gives the reader a summary
about the banner story. However, there are times when the banner photo does not
coincide with the banner story to the extent of baffling readers on the appearance of the
photo on the page.
Readers probably have seen in the front page a crime news story with a banner
photo of a politician happily greeting the people or a news story of a government official
being sued with a banner photo of a car accident.
Author Shirley Biagi (48) writes that the marriage of the photographs and text
tells a better story than either text or photographs could tell alone.
Compared to other media studies that focus on the analysis of news story
content, this study helps the reader, students, professors and everyone by providing the
editors and chief of photographers explanation how they choose their photos for the
daily publication.

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This study will show the photos way to the gate which means the process of
selecting pictures by the editors and photographers.
This study gives the reader a wide understanding on why such photo is chosen
to be in the banner page and what are the bases of the editor that such image is placed
in the first page. The study will eliminate the readers confusion why the banner photo is
different from the news story. Aside from finding out the editors standard on selecting
banner photos, this study will also analyze the news values in every banner photo of the
local newspaper.
Furthermore, this study is significant to give students in colleges and universities
another reference in terms of photojournalism.

Theoretical Background of the Study

This study is anchored on the theories called Gatekeeping Theory and AgendaSetting Theory.

Gatekeeping Theory. This theory is defined as a long and established process

that allows long messages to be shortened without losing the quality of the content of
the messages. Gatekeepers are the ones who decide which information should go
forward and which should not.
Psychologist Kurt Zadek Lewin coined the word gate keeping. This is a process
of blocking unwanted or useless things by using a gate. Considering that he was a great

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psychologist and pioneer of social psychology, this theory was then widely used in the
field of psychology. It later occupies the field of communication and is now considered
as one of the essential theories in communication studies (communicationtheory.org).
It was in 1943 when Lewin introduced the theory. Among of its features include:
the media can select and filter the items by editing according to the limited time and
space, it sets the standard for newsworthiness and it can be used as social control for
media influence (businesstopia.net).
Minerva Gerodias in his study the Rhetoric of Banner Stories in Philippine Dailies
mentions that Lewin believes information passes through different channels in a
patterned fashion (23).
In his study Forces Behind Food Habits and Methods of Change,
Lewin said that information must pass a gate to move from one channel to
the next such that forces govern channels. There may be opposing
psychological forces causing conflict which creates resistance to
movement through the channel... There may be several channels that lead
to the same end result, and different actors may control the channels and
acts as gatekeepers at different times (23-24).
The gatekeeper has its own influence in terms of social, cultural, ethical and
political dimensions. In the newspaper, the editor plays a vital role. Every day the
newspaper receives various news items and photos from the reporters and
photographers from the different beats or assignment. The editor will decide which news
items and photos should go and which should not. According to Lewin, every news

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channel has its own ethics and policies on what news or photos should be published or
not.
According to Melvin L. DeFleur in his book Mass Communication Theories:
Explaining Origins, Processes and Effects, gatekeeping is the practice of gathering and
disseminating a selection of news stories via a mass medium. He explains that this
theory is the process of examining a pool of many items, applying a set of criteria, and
then selecting from that pool a final smaller number for some treatment. De Fleur (155)
says that the criteria for making judgments about newsworthiness are traditionally called
news values. These news values include proximity, prominence, timeliness, conflict,
oddity and consequence
Gatekeeping has been practiced in the newsroom in selecting news stories and
photos. Reporters and editors practice the procedure of gatekeeping in gathering
information through interviews to come up with a news story. But not all these
information are written because of the newspapers limited space. News writers select
which information is essential without affecting the message of the story. But
gatekeeping does not stop there. Editors check the grammar, sentence structure and
the details of the story. The choice of information to be printed rests in the editors
decision who is acquainted with the space intended for a specific news story. The same
thing happens when selecting photos.
Gerodias presents in her study that the reporters and editors are the
gatekeepers.

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In mass media, the news reporters and editors are considered to be the
gatekeepers. They are the ones to decide what stories to get, how stories
are angled, how stories are structured, and which stories are considered
as banner stories. Furthernore, as gatekeepers, they will decide how to
structure the headline, how to start the lead paragraph, and how to
present the facts at the body of the banner story. All of these are being
practiced as gatekeepers of the news (24).
The Gatekeeping Theory supports the selection of banner photo study because
the editors, who serve as gatekeepers, are the ones who check which photo should be
placed in the newspapers front page and which should just be kept as file photos.

Agenda-Setting Theory. This theory assumes that the mass media may be not
successful in telling its audience what to think, but it is absolutely successful in telling
people what to think about. In addition, this theory states that although media
concentrate on few issues, the public thinks that those issues, especially those place in
the first few pages, are more important the others.
Gatekeeping is not enough without agenda-setting. A second important task for
those who gather, process, and disseminate the daily news is to make decisions about
the prominence of the position of the story---to decide where it belongs within the format
of the daily presentation (DeFleur, 160). Media should set the agenda.
In simpler term, setting the agenda is deciding what page a news story and a
photo will be placed in the newspaper. The most important issue of the day are

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those stories and photos that land on the front page. Those stories and photos that are
placed in the inside pages are considered less important than the ones placed on the
banner page.

DeFleur (160) states that agenda setting for those who manage the news
presentation includes both deciding on which stories to let through the gate and in what
order to present them in the medium. He further states that a theory regarding decisions
as to where the story should be located in the news report---giving it greater or lesser
prominence--- is called the Agenda-Setting Theory.
Researchers Maxwell McCombs and Donald Shaw first put forth the agendasetting function of the mass media in 1972. They were the first ones who suggested that
media sets the public agenda, in the sense that they may not exactly tell you what to
think, but they may tell you what to think about (masscommtheory.com).
McCombs and Shaw further say media affects the order of presentation in news
reports about news events and issues in the public mind. McCombs and Shaw state
that the main concept associate with agenda setting theory is gatekeeping.
(communication.org)
While gatekeeping is the main theory anchored in this study, setting the agenda
is also important. Selecting photos is anchored to gatekeeping theory while deciding
what page will these be placed is anchored to agenda setting theory.

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Choice of banner photos
depends on the individual
newspaper standards

Gatekeeping Theory

Agenda Setting Theory

Kurt Zadek Lewin, 1943

Maxwell McCombs and Donald L.

Shaw, 1972

News
Values of
the banner

Banner
Sun.Star Cebu
The Freeman

photo
selection

photo
Daily News
standards
Relation ofCebu
the banner
photo on
Different
photo to the banner story

Figure1: Schematic Presentation of the Theoretical Background of the Study

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Problem Statement

The study aims to analyze the choice of banner photos of the three Cebu-based
English newspapers, namely Sun.Star Cebu, The Freeman and Cebu Daily News.

Specifically, it focuses on the following aspects:

1. the news values of the banner photo;

2. banner photo selection standards; and
3. relation of the banner photo to the banner story.

Significance of the Study

This study benefits the newspaper readers for this would help them understand
how the photos placed in the front page are chosen and it would also eliminate
confusion on why there are instances that the banner photo is different from the banner
story. This study will also benefit the mass communication students and teacher for this
would serve as their additional reference for their subject related to newspaper or
photojournalism. Finally, this study is also helpful to the communication researchers
who have topics related to photojournalism.

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Scope and Limitations

This study focuses on the three local English newspapers in Cebu, including
Sun.Star Cebu, The Freeman and Cebu Daily News. This study gathers and analyzes
the banner photos that came out in the three local newspapers for seven days,
specifically from October 19 to October 26, 2015. This research only chooses banner
photo for this is considered as the most important photo of the day in the newspaper. It
only focuses on the three local newspapers for the researchers convenience. Also, the
researcher has easy access to the editor-in-chief and photojournalists of the said
newspapers.

Definition of Terms

The terms below are defined to avoid ambiguity.

Banner Page refers to the first page or the front page of the newspaper. This is
considered as the most prominent page of the newspaper that carries the most
prominent news story and photos of the day.
Banner Photo refers to the most significant photo seen in the banner page of the
newspaper. It occupies more space compared to other photos placed on the banner
page.
Banner Story refers the prominent story in the front page with bold title placed
on the center of the banner page.
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Gatekeeper refers the editor who decides what information, story or photos
should come out or not in the newspaper. She weighs what is the most important photo
or story of the day and placed it in the banner page.
News Value is the basis of the gatekeeper to determine the significance of a
story or photo.
Way to the Gate refers to the process of selecting photos done by the editor who
served as gatekeeper.

Chapter 2
REVIEW OF RELATED READINGS

This chapter shows the related literature and studies about the selection of
photos. A review of the related literature is presented to support this study. It is followed
by few studies on determining good photos that would be helpful for this study.

Related Literature Reviewed

The literature reviewed relates to this study for it possesses the ways and
strategies to determine good photos. Furthermore, it explains why photos are needed in
every publication.
Journalism educator Frank Luther Mott coins the word photojournalism in 1942.
Before Mott gave academic credibility to photojournalism, most news photographs were
just made to show that newspaper had someone on the scene. Looking back, artistic
quality was treated with less value and the intense competition among the newspapers
was only to get picture (Lewis 7).
Photography has been practiced by everyone to capture precious moments and
share these pictures to friends and families. But, when it comes to photos intended to
newspapers, it should have features and qualities that would justify its purpose--- to give
readers a story at a first look.
Motts move on photojournalism becomes the key that newspapers are now
giving importance and respectability of the news photographs. Over the years,
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publications across the globe have realized the importance of visual communication
with the use of pictures in their daily production. The publications then treat the
photograph as more than a space filler or graphic device (Lewis 8).
Author Greg Lewis mentions in his book Photojournalism Content and Technique
Second Edition that photojournalism must contain strong telling features. According to
him, these photos reveal new information at first look and more information on the
second. They answer some of the classic questions of journalism: who, what, when,
why, where, and how. They go right to the point, without ambiguity. Lewis further states
that in recognizing an interesting journalistic photo, these should have news values---conflict, prominence, proximity, timeliness and bizarre (9).
This study determines the news values for each banner photos of the three local
English newspapers. Knowing the criteria on the selection of banner photos is important
for this study. Just like in selecting news stories, the people in the newsroom are able to
know the newsworthiness of the photos through the news values. The news values
serve as the characteristics of a good news story or photo.
While the reporters are assigned to various beats to gather facts and write
stories, the photographers take charge of the camera work (Soriano 85).
Here in Cebu, photographers are given assignments by the editor (either the
news editor, assistant news editor or desk editor) a day before the coverage. They are
either assigned to handle hard news, feature or business. This is the usual routine. But,
if photographers are not given tasks in a given day, they take photos on their own which

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they think interesting and would come out the next day. This is usually human interest
photos.
The types of photos that the photographers take are hard news photo, newsfeature photo and feature or human interest photo. The pictures can be improved
through by editing. According to Soriano, the picture editor or the copy editor must
determine which photos compliment the news story or tell a story on their own, whether
cropping enhances the image, what size a photo must be to communicate effectively or
whether retouching is necessary (Soriano 101).
Picture selection is critical because valuable space is wasted if the
picture does nothing more than depicts a scene that could be described
more efficiently with words (Soriano 101).
Currently, photographers decide whether cropping or enhancing the color of the
photo is needed before they submit it to the newsroom. Most of the copy or page editors
only attach the photo to the page and they do more on editing news story than editing
photos.
Alito Malinao indicates in his book Journalism for Filipinos First Edition that
having an action and drama in the pictures also determines the quality of a relevant
photo (167).
Malinao (165) says that the five main functions of the photos are to attract
attention, illustrate a point in the story, tell a story itself through the aid of caption, tell
story in sequence with other illustrations and to give visual relief to the design or

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makeup of the story. News photographs already tell a story and only a minimum caption
is needed.
Todays newspapers use more and more photos not only to improve their
makeup but also effectively convey their message. Editors realize that the
use of visuals as photos and illustrations can simplify and make more
effective the art of communicating (165).

Related Studies Reviewed

One of the studies that are widely adopted by the academe both in the
Philippines and United States is the study on journalism of M. Lyle Spencer, former
dean of School Journalism, Syracuse University (Malinao, 40).
Spencer explicitly describes each news values or attributes, including timeliness,
proximity, prominence, significance and oddity.
Timeliness or immediacy is the journalist or photojournalists way of writing news
or providing photographs immediately so that a story or photo is appreciated by its
readers. This is to provide the reader fresh news or photos (Malinao 40). For instance,
the demolition of houses near Mahiga Creek and Butuanon River in Mandaue City
should come out in the next days publication for such event is immediate.
Proximity is the nearness of the event to the intended reader (Malinao 41).
Readers are more interested of a photo or news story if it happens near to their area as
it will affect them. For instance, readers within Cebu City would appreciate news stories
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and photographs about the rerouting of roads within the city to pave the way for the
Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation 2015 delegates than a fire incident in Danao City.
Prominence refers to person, places and events that create news (Malinao 41).
Cebu Gov. Hilario Davide IIIs interest in solving home lots in Cebu City covered by 93-1
ordinance and Ayala cinemas ceiling that collapsed are newsworthy.
Significance or consequence refers to the importance of the event and how it
affects many people (Malinao 42). One of the best examples is the typhoon Yolanda
that hit the northern towns in Cebu last November 8, 2013.
Oddity or bizarre is anything that is not the usual event that came out in the
newspaper (Malinao 42). A dog bites a man is normal, but if a man bites a dog that is
newsworthy. One good example for this is 111-year-old Consolacion Elladora who is
believed to be the oldest person in Barangay Capt. Claudio in Toledo City.
Conflict refers to the clash between people and institutions (Lewis 9). For
instance, the peoples revolution against the late president Ferdinand Marcos in the
middle of 1980s is newsworthy.
Moreover, Hans-Jurgen Bucher and Peter Schumacher in their study The
relevance of attention for selecting news content: An eye-tracking study on attention
patterns in the reception of print and online media find out that in printed newspaper,
the dominant lead photo got the very first attention, followed by the headline, followed
again by the photo. In this case, the text was not read in the first 10 seconds (14).
One of main findings of the Standford-Poynter eye-tracking study on
online newspapers was the thesis that there is a strong preference for text
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over graphics as entry points (in online media), whereas in case of a

printed newspaper, visual elements such as photographs or information
grab the eye first (Bucher-Schumacher, 11).
According to Garcia and Stark in their study entitled Eyes on the News, readers
do not read but rather scan newspapers and stop scanning on the so-called entry
points. This main entry points are pictures and graphics. The readers usually go to a
page with a dominant photo, move to a prominent headline or another dominant photo
(Holmqvist-Wartenberg, 2-3).
The entry point concept in Garcia & Stark is a central one. Entry points
are entities on a spread that draw initial attention: Pictures, headline,
quotes, fact boxes could be entry points. But virtually all elements,
anywhere, even editorial text, can serve as entry points into reading
(Holmqvist-Wartenberg, 3).
As to the headline structure, Gerodias (65) explains that the daily newspapers
used the active voice, used numerals instead of spelling out numbers, avoided using
articles and only used proper nouns that are well-known enough to be recognized
immediately in the headlines of their banner stories.
Gerodias (65) further explains that the daily newspapers used eye-popping
primary heads and fact filled secondary heads with contrasting type styles for both
heads, avoided using headlines that were not included in the story and observed the
subject-verb-direct object headline syntax.

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In her study Textuality of News Stories in Cebu-based Tabloids, Julie Ann

Villanueva (73) explains that headlines are constructed according to the predetermined
typographical styles of the representative tabloids, follow a skeletonised structure and
are written in active voice.
All these studies support this research on the selection of banner photo
considering that picture, especially the one being placed on the front page of
newspapers, are the first one noticed by the readers.
While readers have preferences on what newspaper to read, it is a good to let
them know how these striking photos are selected by the people working in the
newsroom.

Chapter 3

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

This chapter presents the research method, sources of data and data-gathering
procedure that are used in this study.

Research Method

This study uses descriptive method analysis to analyze how banner photos are
selected by the three local English newspapers. The researcher specifically analyzes
the news value of each banner photo. Aside from this, this research also applies
personal interviews to either the editor-in-chiefs or editors and chief-of-photographers or
photographers to make the study more effective.

Research Environment

The research environment is Cebu Province where the main stories and photos
are gathered by the reporters and photographers. The three newspapers are Cebubased print media.

Sources of Data
The sources of data are the local newspaper in Cebu City namely: Sun.Star
Cebu, The Freeman and Cebu Daily News. The banner photos of the three local
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newspapers that are published from Oct. 19 to 24 are gathered and analyzed to answer
the problem and sub-problem of this study. The time frame is significant because the
researcher can see how the three newspapers presented their banner photos a week
after the filing of the certificate of candidacy for the May 2016 elections.

Data-gathering Procedure

Phase 1: News Values Analyzed. The news values include timeliness,

proximity, prominence, significance or consequence, oddity and conflict.
Each banner photo of the three newspapers--- Sun.Star Cebu, The Freeman and
Cebu Daily News--- printed for seven days will be analyzed according to its news
values.
The table below is used to plot the news value of banner photos. Newspaper 1 is
Sun.Star Cebu, Newspaper 2 is The Freeman while Newspaper 3 is Cebu Daily News.

Table 1. NEWS VALUES OF THE BANNER PHOTOS

Days

Newspaper

Day 1

N1
N2
N3

Day 2

N1
N2
N3

Day 3

N1
N2
N3

News Values

Day 4

N1
N2
N3

Day 5

N1
N2
N3

Day 6

N1
N2
N3

Day 7

N1
N2
N3

Phase 2. Editors Standards. The editor-in-chiefs or the editors assigned to

handle the front page of Sun.Star Cebu, The Freeman and Cebu Daily News will be
interviewed. The editors would be asked about their standards on choosing banner
photos. Aside from the editors, the chief-of-photographers or photojournalists will also
be interviewed. A Venn diagram will be showed and a textual presentation will follow
according to the diagram.

Phase 3. Editors Explanation on a Different Banner Photo from the Banner

Story. The editor is asked to explain why there are times that a banner photo is different
from the banner story. The aim of this phase is to give the readers an idea why these

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instances happened. Thus, this will lessen confusion on the part of the readers. A
textual presentation of the analysis would be made.