Powerful Image

Image source: http://www.kickvick.com/77-powerful-photos/

Context information: https://www.poynter.org/newsletters/2013/how-kkk-rally-image-found-new-life-20-years-after-it-was-published/

Audience: This picture was taken at a KKK rally in Gainesville, GA, and was originally published in a small community newspaper. Thus, the primary audience was Gainesville citizens. Later, the image found its way onto the AP wire and was revived by social media, so it also has a secondary general audience of people interested in civil rights, the KKK, Gainesville or photography.

Purpose: The photographer, Todd Robertson, was a gig photojournalist assigned to this rally as backup. His purpose was simply to document the rally.

Context: As mentioned, this child was photographed during a KKK rally in Gainesville, GA, on September 5, 1992. The rally was for the purpose of reviving the KKK in NE Georgia, but apparently was ineffective. The civil rights movement, proper, was waning, but organizations like the SPLC and the ACLU were still fighting for equality amongst races, and were eager to use this image.

Genre: The genre of this image is probably best described as film photojournalism -- it was intended to report on events, not necessarily to make any particular statement.