What's missing from this newspaper?
It should be pretty obvious: pictures.
Indeed, the French newspaper Libération has come out with a new edition that excludes all images in order to rally behind photographers that have been hit hardest by newspaper job cuts, The British Journal of Photography reported on Friday. In just a little over a decade, photographers, artists and videographers have lost 43% percent of all jobs.
Libération chose to print the November 14th issue without pictures in order to emphasize the importance and general need for photographers in the newspaper industry. The paper hopes to prove that photographs are essential in how news is reported by creating "a series of empty frames that create a form of silence; an uncomfortable one... as if we had become a mute newspaper," Libération journalist Brigitte Ollier told the British Journal of Photography. The front page reportedly sends this message to readers:
"Libération vows an eternal gratitude to photography, whether produced by photojournalists, fashion photographers, portraitists, or conceptual artists. Our passion for photography has never been questioned - not because it's used to beautify, shock or illustrate, but because photography takes the pulse of our world. To choose Paris Photo's opening day to "install' these white images highlights our commitment to photography. It's not a wake, we're not burying the photographic art... Instead we give photography the homage it deserves."
Here are some more pages from the November edition, courtesy of British Journal of Photography:
At the end of the newspaper, all images reappeared and this time the words were excluded to create the opposite effect.