This study explores aspects of journalistic quality in complex digital stories. Based on a tailored overview of the potentials of online journalism and digital long form stories for journalistic quality, all available award-winning stories of the subcategory Interactive of the World Press Photo’s Digital Storytelling Contest from 2011 to 2021 (n = 31) are examined according to their structure and journalistic quality criteria using Grounded Theory. The findings add to the long and ongoing research history in journalism and communication studies on the question of what journalistic quality entails and can be used as a basis for further analyses focusing on the technological and structural nature of digital stories and high-quality journalism. The analysis revealed a differentiation between linear stories and chapter stories with linear elements. While a multimedia nature, continuous text and video content prevailed in both forms, they differed in terms of their complexity as well as certain expressions of quality criteria. Gamification and immersion emerged as new yet debatable aspects of journalistic quality in digital stories.

Tableau d'honneur de la Faculté des études supérieures et postdoctorales, 2011-2012 / Ce mémoire porte sur les tenants et aboutissants d'une série d'ateliers de formation au photojournalisme dispensé en Inde par l'ONG néerlandaise World Press Photo (ci-après WPP). Le regard que j'y porte se situe au croisement de l'anthropologie de l'image et de l'anthropologie des médias d'information en étant fortement infléchi par les réflexions sur les relations de pouvoir. WPP se situe dans la tradition de l'esthétique sociodocumentaire qui s'est développée en Occident au cours du 20e siècle – articulant le pouvoir de véridiction de l'objectivité mécanique à la force sensible du regard subjectif en un élan de monstration réformiste – et a récemment commencé à prendre pied en Inde. Si la majorité des photojournalistes m'a semblé plutôt enthousiaste vis-à-vis la proposition de WPP, j'ai toutefois relevé une résistance de la part de certains d'entre eux à épouser totalement cette conception de la photographie, préférant plutôt ancrer leur pratique dans une tradition nationale indienne. / This thesis centers on a series of photojournalism workshops held in India by the Dutch NGO World Press Photo (hereafter WPP). My analytical lens combines contributions from the anthropology of the image and the anthropology of newsmedia while staying sensitive to issues of power. WPP is a proponent of the sociodocumentary aesthetic that developped in 20th century western photography – linking the truth claim proposed by mechanical objectivity with the sensible force of the subjective eye in a reformist impulse – and was proposed to Indian photographers at the turn of the 21th century. Most were eager to adopt WPP's proposed vision of photography, while some had a slight resistance to it, prefering to link their practice to a national Indian tradition. This split loosely followed generational lines, both sets of photojournalists projected themselves into differents areas – global and local – while articulating their practice to a heightened individuality.

During the last decades, the presence of visual media has increased dramatically. However, very little empirical research has been carried out to determine the implication of the medium photograph as a visual information transmitter. The aim of this study was therefore to investigate the characteristics of professional press photos that relate to war and armed conflicts and to examine the framing of victimhood. A thorough literature review as well as an iconographic interpretation of World Press Photos serves to ascertain data in order to permit answering the research questions.   The World Press Photo Foundation is the subject of research as it represents the most prestigious international competition for press photography at present and thus acts as an agenda-setter. That highlights the implication of its decisions about professional photographs since its coverage of certain issues biases the international media coverage of the same. It also affects the development of professional photojournalism. In this context the meaning of photographs in today’s visual media societies can be discussed.