Photojournalistic images traditionally serve as a record of events, evidence of abuses of power, carriers of memory and powerful agents for change, but documenting the present is no longer the sole preserve of professional photojournalists from established media organisations. New technologies are continually changing the ways in which images are produced and disseminated. 

Photojournalism sits within a complex tapestry of media content, platforms and agendas, continually challenged by misinformation and disinformation, digital disruption and attacks on press freedom. Artificial Intelligence can create realistic images of events that did not happen, or at which no camera was present. This has the potential to undermine trust in all photographic images, as well as opening up unprecedented avenues of possibility.

News reports frequently include other forms of imagery, for example satellite and drone footage, changing the distances and perspectives from which we see. Organisations like Amnesty International and Forensic Architecture have developed advanced image verification and visualisation tools that enable them to take vast amounts of open-source imagery and create compelling stories from them, expanding the way we think of the role of a photojournalist.