An explosion caused by two bombs created chaos in Hyderabad, Southern India and killed 13 people. The New York Times and NBC News both reported the incident but used very different pictures to accompany the story. The New York Times used the picture below of some people in the area after the attack and one person with a dog to help discover any more bombs.

 NBC News used the picture below of a man in a hospital covered in bandages after being injured during the explosion.

The picture used by the New York Times has a caption that explains the situation but without reading the caption the picture could be of any dirty street in India. The image is at the beginning of the article but it does not draw the reader into the story. If the article did not have the headline of “Deadly Bombings Hit Southern Indian City” I would assume the story were about pollution or pets or perhaps the effects of poverty on animals in third world countries. The picture is not significant enough to the story to make me relate to the picture. The position of the picture suggests that it is very important to the story but that is not the case. The article describes the tragic event well but if I were judging the article by the picture I would not necessarily want to read it. The picture does not hone in on the subject well enough. However, this picture does not affect the story once you have read the article. It simply has very little effect before the article is read. On the other hand, NBC News uses a picture that clearly relates to the story without reading the headline. Anything could have happened to put the man in a hospital but just by looking at the picture the reader knows that something tragic has happened and people have been injured. However, unlike the New York Times article the picture is not placed at the beginning of the article; it is in the middle of the article, off centre, and small. The picture shows you how badly the civilians were injured and makes you sympathize with them. The placement of this picture makes the reader realise the depth of the situation. The picture is halfway through the article so they already know that there was a bombing and people were killed and injured. However, when they see the picture they are actually looking at someone who was injured in the bombing and the story becomes that much more real and emotional. The picture enhances the story and heightens the emotional response to the story. NBC chose the picture well so that it would add depth to their story. If the picture were positioned at the beginning of the article it would have a greater effect because the reader would have already had an emotional reaction before they even read the article. Because of the initial emotions provided by the picture, if it were at the top, the reader would want to keep reading to find out what happened.

NYTimes: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/22/world/asia/deadly-bombings-hit-southern-india-city.html?ref=asia

NBCNews: http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/02/21/17044448-11-killed-as-blasts-rock-shopping-area-in-hyderabad-india?lite