The Corporate Creation of the Photojournalist: Life Magazine and Margaret Bourke-White in World War II

Abstract

The familiar cultural figure of the photojournalist emerged relatively late in the history of photography, taking a shape only in the 1930s and developing quickly in the unique conditions provided by the conjunction of the new, picture-driven mass print media and their coverage of the global conflict of World War II. This article asserts that market and business demands drove this invention, focusing primarily on the career of Margaret Bourke-White and her symbiotic relationship with Life magazine. By analyzing the management hierarchy and business model of Life, I show how the majority of staff photographers were in fact constrained by the corporate structure, while only a few, such as Bourke-White, were accorded star status as ‘independent’ and intrepid photojournalists. Finally, the ideological function of the romanticised photojournalist as a proxy of freedom is analysed in relation to the rise of corporate/technocratic bureaucratic structures that came to dominate the post-war period.