A Functional Study on Image Language’s Getting Involved in News Reports

Traditional news reports use text more as the only transmission carrier, and use images (图像) less as a means of visual creation and information transmission. With the advent of the era of picture-reading, images as a communication medium that directly appeals to human visual perception have further triggered human visual instincts. The dissemination function of image symbols has once again attracted attention. The involvement of images in news reports breaks the regulations brought about by the limitation and exhaustion of words, and makes news expressed in single text have the openness and radioactivity of information. Based on the essence of image symbols and based on visual anthropology and communication theory, this paper analyzes the cross-lingual, interactive and reproducible functions of images in news reports, so as to start discussion on the influence of image language on news dissemination. Images are not only sensory symbols, but also recognition symbols and aesthetic symbols for human beings to obtain information.