Veteran Photographer Tom Gralish Challenges the Visual Status Quo in “The Hierarchy of Newspaper Photographs”
In a new installment of his long-running column “Scene Through the Lens,” Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer Tom Gralish of The Philadelphia Inquirer addresses the invisible caste system that governs visual journalism: the hierarchy of newspaper photographs. The piece, which debuted this week, uses local landmarks such as the Swarthmore College “Duck Tunnel” to illustrate how photojournalism categorizes images from essential news to “filler.”
Deep Search: Decoding the Visual Caste System
While the average reader sees a newspaper as a collection of equal stories, photo departments operate under a strict, unspoken tier system. At the apex sits “Spot News”—images of conflict, disaster, and crime that demand immediate attention. Below that lies “General News,” often consisting of staged political events, ribbon cuttings, and podium speeches. Traditionally, “Feature” photography—images of weather, shadows, architecture, or daily life—sits at the bottom of this pyramid, viewed as merely decorative.
Gralish’s analysis, however, subverts this traditional structure. By focusing his lens on the “Duck Tunnel” (a corrugated metal culvert under SEPTA tracks) or the whimsy of a “snowy Elmo,” he argues for the narrative power of the bottom tier. In the visual hierarchy, these “quiet” images often perform the heavy lifting of connecting a community to its environment, providing a texture of reality that a staged press conference cannot.
Objections: The Problem with Ranking Reality
The existence of this hierarchy draws significant criticism from modern visual theorists and photo editors. By systematically devaluing “feature” photography, newsrooms risk creating a disconnect with their audience. Critics argue that when photographers are conditioned to hunt only for “blood and fire” (high-hierarchy images), they miss the subtle shifts in culture and infrastructure that actually affect residents’ daily lives. Furthermore, the rigid preference for “action” shots often leads to visual clichés—the pointing politician or the grieving bystander—that prioritize easy comprehension over genuine storytelling. There is also the counter-argument from hard-news purists: that in a world of limited space and attention, “artistic” photos of tunnels are indulgences that take space away from critical information about governance and safety.
Background: The Shift from Broadsheets to Pixels
The “hierarchy” was originally born out of the physical limitations of print media. In the era of black-and-white broadsheets, high-contrast action shots reproduced better than subtle, atmospheric features. Additionally, the limited real estate of a front page meant only the most “consequential” news could be visualized. Today, with the shift to digital platforms and high-resolution mobile screens, the technical barriers that enforced this hierarchy have vanished. This technological shift has allowed photographers like Gralish to elevate the “mundane” into significant visual commentary, proving that a photo of a metal culvert can hold as much journalistic weight as a photo of a mayor—if the storytelling is strong enough.
