It’s so meta: Metacommunicative storytelling on news organizations’ Instagram accounts

Abstract

News organizations increasingly utilize visual elements to communicate news and information to audiences. Digital editing technology allows producers to enhance visual communication through the addition of supplementary text or filters to photos. Such metacommunication can alter the intrinsic meaning of a photograph while increasing audience engagement. Traditional photojournalism norms state that images should not be altered. This study examines whether metacommunicative news images receive more engagement and whether some outlets are more likely than others to share such images.