“In the "photo opportunity", […] an event is created with the specific purpose of being depicted in a media image, to be consumed by viewers as reality.” (Gramson 387) This essay will explain how a mass society, previously enchanted by photojournalism, became subject to control through the move to biased television news. This will be explained using Ulrich Keller's evidence to explore how the introduction of photojournalism created a false sense of truth and reality. Additionally, I will explain the change that occurred with the birth of television news using Mitchell Stephens' writings on the topic. I will then connect the shift from photojournalism to television news to explain the latter's ability to possess massive social control over society using evidence from James Beniger and John Fiske. Although photojournalism was introduced to the media as early as 1867 in weeklies and 1880s in daily newspapers, the true sensationalism it caused did not appear until 1890 (Keller 146). Photojournalism in the late 1800s and early 1900s was a sensational new medium for conveying a message to mass societies in America and other technologically advanced countries, becoming renowned for its ability to provide reality check to otherwise unfounded. Within thirty years photojournalism gained a daily national audience, by 1910 in New York City alone, fourteen newspapers contained an average of 903 images per week (Schunemann 102). This sharp increase in photojournalism has allowed the illusion of reality and truthfulness believed by mass societies. By providing pictorial evidence people were forced to believe what they were shown. Unfortunately, photojournalism had numerous prejudices and was not......middle of paper......telle. Visual communication and graphic arts: photographic technologies in the nineteenth century. 2nd edition. New York: R.R. Bowker, 1974, 1938.Keller, Ulrich. "The first photojournalism". Crowley, David and Paul Heyer. Communication in history: technology, culture, society. Sixth edition. Boston: Allyn and Bacon, circa 2011. 144-152.Schunemann, Raymond Smith. Photography in Print: An Examination of New York Newspapers, 1890-1937. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota, 1966. Stephens, Mitchell. "Television transforms the news." Crowly, David and Paul Heyer. Communication in history: technology, culture, society. Sixth edition. Boston: Allyn and Bacon, circa 2011. 245-251.William A. Gamson, David Croteau, William Hoynes, and Theodore Sasson. "Media images and the social construction of reality". Annual review of sociology. vol. 18. Palo Alto: Annual Reviews, 1992. 387.