ST. JOHN’S, NEWFOUNDLAND – How does an ordinary news photo of the Prime Minister on a wharf in St John’s Newfoundland end up in feeds of dozens of international news outlets? …good timing and a global news agency.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney is photographed every day he is in public by at least two news agency photographers. These agencies supply the photos on ‘the wire” to other news organization who subscribe or buy from from them.
Because all news organizations can’t have someone everywhere they rely on news gathering agencies such as Reuters, Agence France-Presse (AFP), Associated Press (AP), Canadian Press (CP) and Getty… and there are a dozen smaller regional ones also. These are called “Wire Services”. Kind of a news wholesaler. Gathering and selling stories, information, photos and video through syndication to other news organizations. The wires have hundreds of reporters and photographers around the world.
Back to St John’s and the Prime Minister.
On Monday July 17th Prime Minister Carney was in St John’s, Newfoundland with the Premiers of Quebec and Newfoundland & Labrador to announce a major hydro electric development on the Churchill River in central Labrador. This is a big energy project and a big economic story for Canada. I was assigned to cover the event by Reuters whom I’ve been a freelance contract photographer for many years. I filed a dozen photos from the event.
But that’s not why the photo got so much play around the world. The attention came from what was about to happen later that week.
All weekend everyone was watching the tense trade talks between Canada and the USA to see if there was going to be a new trade deal. All weekend the indications where positive this would happen.
The Tuesday deadline came but talks were extended. Everyone continued to watch and write stories about it all week But Three days later news came that all had collapsed. That was big news everywhere. The USA and its closest ally and trading partner could not come to an agreement.
The hunt for photos to illustrate stories was on and some of the last photos of Carney on the wire were from his appearance in St John’s, Newfoundland three days earlier. That’s what everyone pulled to use with the story. Timing is everything in the news business.
These screen shots are just some of the newspapers, websites and broadcast news outlets that used the Carney photos from St John’s to illustrate the trade talks story.
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