A recently published article by Christoph Raetzsch explores the photographic legacy of journalistic objectivity in early twentieth century America.

Before halftones became the dominant mode of reproducing photojournalism in print media, wood engravings were the most used form of ‘illustrated journalism’. The study shows how objectivity became a dominant value in photojournalism after halftones were adopted as the main mode of illustrating stories.

Picture: An artist using an 18th-century camera obscura to trace an image by unknown illustrator Licence: Public Domain