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Journals / Yeni Medya / 2025 / Sayı: 19

Layers of Meaning in News Photography: An Analysis of Barthes’s Semiotics and the Google Cloud Vision API

Haber Fotoğrafında Anlam Katmanları: Barthes’ın Göstergebilimi ve Google Cloud Vision API Analizi

Bahar Balcı Aydoğan(Muğla Sıtkı Koçman Üniversitesi)0000-0003-3207-5595
Journal
Yeni Medya
Pages
275–291
Publication Date
2025-12-23
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AI Summary & Key Takeaways

AI Insight
⚡ TL;DR(Too Long; Didn't Read)

The findings reveal that single frames predominantly highlight individual tragedies, whereas series photographs emphasize collective solidarity and social vulnerability.

📌 3 Key Takeaways

🎯
Objective & Hypothesis:This study examines the single and series news photographs awarded in Anadolu Agency’s Istanbul Photo Awards 2025 with the aim of analyzing the meaning-making processes of news photography from both theoretical and technological perspectives.
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Key Findings & Data:In doing so, a hybrid approach was employed to integrate qualitative interpretation with measurable data.
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Conclusion & Impact:The findings reveal that single frames predominantly highlight individual tragedies, whereas series photographs emphasize collective solidarity and social vulnerability.
🔬Design:Araştırma Makalesi
📍Scope:2025 Verileri
⚙️Variables:Haber Fotoğrafı · Fotojurnalizm · Göstergebilim

Abstract

This study examines the single and series news photographs awarded in Anadolu Agency’s Istanbul Photo Awards 2025 with the aim of analyzing the meaning-making processes of news photography from both theoretical and technological perspectives. Photojournalism is not merely a technical act of recording events but a practice of producing cultural and ideological meanings. Building on this premise, the research combines Roland Barthes’s semiotic framework with the quantitative analyses of Google Cloud Vision AI. In doing so, a hybrid approach was employed to integrate qualitative interpretation with measurable data. By bridging semiotic analysis and artificial intelligence-based methods, the study offers an original contribution to the literature on the multilayered meanings of news photography. The findings reveal that single frames predominantly highlight individual tragedies, whereas series photographs emphasize collective solidarity and social vulnerability. Moreover, while Barthes’s conceptual approach proves more effective in uncovering emotional and cultural dimensions, AI-based analyses serve a complementary role by capturing certain technical features. Nonetheless, the results also indicate that artificial intelligence sometimes misinterprets contextual elements despite its accuracy in detecting visual components.

Özet

Bu araştırma, Anadolu Ajansı’nın İstanbul Photo Awards 2025 yarışmasında ödül alan tekil ve seri haber kategorisindeki fotoğrafları inceleyerek, haber fotoğrafının anlam üretim süreçlerini kuramsal ve teknolojik açıdan ele almak amacıyla gerçekleştirilmiştir. Foto muhabirliği, toplumsal olayları belgelemek için yalnızca teknik bir kayıt değil, toplumsal ve ideolojik bir anlam üretme biçimidir. Araştırmada bu düşünceden hareketle Roland Barthes’ın göstergebilimsel yaklaşımı ile Google Cloud Vision AI’ın nicel analizleri bir arada kullanılmıştır. Böylece hem nitel hem de ölçülebilir veriler üzerinden karma bir değerlendirme gerçekleştirilmiştir. Çalışma, göstergebilimsel yaklaşım ile yapay zekâ tabanlı analizi bir araya getirerek haber fotoğraflarının anlam katmanlarına ilişkin literatüre özgün bir katkı sunmaktadır. Araştırmada sonuç olarak; tekil karelerin bireysel trajediyi, seri haberlerin ise toplumsal dayanışma ve kırılganlığı ön plana çıkardığı tespit edilmiştir. Fotoğrafların duygusal ve kültürel gerçekliğini anlamada Barthes’ın yönteminin belirleyici olduğu, yapay zekâ tabanlı ölçümlerin ise tamamlayıcı bir işlev gördüğü sonucuna ulaşılmıştır. Bununla birlikte yapay zekâ tabanlı ölçümlerin bazı teknik unsurları doğru yakalayabildiği belirlenmiştir.

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Cite This Article

Aydoğan, B. B. (2025). Layers of Meaning in News Photography: An Analysis of Barthes’s Semiotics and the Google Cloud Vision API. Yeni Medya, Sayı: 19, 275–291. https://doi.org/10.55609/yenimedya.1773566

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