Photos of the Day galleries: Representing a more nuanced world

This content analysis investigated whether Photos of the Day online galleries from The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, and the Washington Post present the world outside the United States in a negative manner. This study compared the results to previous content analyses of the winning images of the Pulitzer Prize and Pictures of the Year International contests. A composite month sample of 738 photographs from all three papers was coded according to themes. The findings were that Photos of the Day galleries depicted more feature and general news photos and fewer images of war and social problems than the Pulitzer Prize–winning and Pictures of the Year International–winning images. Therefore, it is argued that Photos of the Day galleries expand the newsworthiness criteria for pictures of events abroad, redefine excellent international photojournalism, and are a rare space in US photojournalism where international news is presented in a more balanced and nuanced manner.