Outlining my public argument

Introduction

In connecting the issue to my audience's world view, use brief examples from current and historic accounts that illustrate how photojournalism has a bearing on life in our society.  Assume a conversational, yet formal enough tone to emphasize the weight of the issue with statements about how it benefits the populace and why it must be preserved, while at the same time not reading like a lecture. This will encourage sympathy, concern, and interest in the subject.

Supporting paragraphs

Major supporting arguments:
Awareness and cognitive understanding (not mere tolerating) of the issues surrounding photojournalism is the required first move toward resolution of any conflict. It's not conducive to progress and peace to become ignorant of issues due to no legitimate outlet being available to the public's demand for information. Therefore, authentic photojournalism is a great societal need.

To act as though the issue does not exist or matter is ultimately self-defeating. Examples of this could include climate change, globalization of world markets, changes in regimes in conflict-ridden areas of the world, economic inequality and its consequences, etc.

Finally, the recording of history must be available to future generations. As the slow, sometimes excruciating process of human evolution moves forward, this history will play an important role in guiding the affairs of the world going forward. Photojournalism does not and ought not be expected to provide all the answers or even a pure picture of truth. It should not judge, but inform and inspire.

Major criticisms, rebuttals, and tentative topic sentences:
Photojournalism is exploitative. The photographers put their careers before helping the victims they observe in life-threatening situations. A rebuttal that can be used is that it is the place of photojournalism to record what is happening around them and to not interfere, so that the world would get an honest account. It is the job of diplomats, governments, and foreign aid organizations to intercede on the behalf of the victims, and the job of the photojournalist to inform the world of the need for action.

There is too much alteration, doctoring, and staging of photos for photojournalism to have any credibility. While it is true that the digitization of photography has produced inauthentic and even
fraudulent work that was held up as truth, it has also enabled people to know what is happening as it is in progress. This knowledge can mitigate the effects of disaster and misfortune on a large scale.

 Gather evidence
From Is Photojournalism a Thing of the Past?
"She is quite certain that no photograph, in and of itself, can tell us all we need to know. But she insists on photographs as essential pieces of evidence, as part of the story we must have. Naturally, when we look at a photograph, we should consider other factors as well. We will want to read news reports and histories in order to better understand a conflict. And we will want to bring into play a whole range of moral considerations. A photograph may not tell us enough, but it can help us understand something about the unfathomable cruelty of the world—and perhaps even help us see how we can act or support action in the world."

“The earliest photojournalists,” Linfield observes in The Cruel Radiance, “expected images of injustice to push viewers into action; photographs were regarded not as expressions of alienation but as interventions in the world.” That optimism, she is perfectly aware, is no longer sustainable. But she argues that our skepticism should not become “an argument for not looking, not seeing, or not knowing, nor for throwing up one’s hands or shielding one’s eyes.”
(The above two quotes to rebut the relevance and authenticity of photojournalism.)

"True enough, photojournalism has always been met with a certain degree of skepticism. A half century ago, there were intellectuals who quite rightly saw the world as represented in Life and Look as in many respects a fiction, and it has long been understood that photography has a propagandistic power, whether for left, right, or center. But, by now, the skepticism about photojournalism has become so pervasive that some counterbalance is needed..."

(To begin a rebuttal to the challenge to photojournalism's credibility.)

"Susie Linfield deals with some of the most challenging products of the photojournalist’s craft, the pictures that are so frightening or horrific as to tempt us to avert our eyes. She considers such photographs as a form of knowledge and even as a call to action." 

(To support the importance of knowledge of events around us.)

From The Necessary but Ugly Side of Photojournalism

"There is nothing pleasant about photos of horrific events abroad being sent back home, and there is nothing pleasant about the way they are gotten. It is fair, I think, to call it an ugly business, because there is no beauty in shock imagery. But the good it does in the exposure it brings to terrible events, and in making an audience emotionally connected to something that they had never even thought of before is a fair trade off. And though the criticism that it is morally abhorrent to profiteer off the suffering of someone you have done nothing to help is valid and worth examining, it misses the point at the heart of photojournalism: that the photographer may not be in a position to help, but that the rest of the world just might be."

(To support the relevance and importance of pj.)

Concluding Strategies
The conclusion will be about the future of the debate. The ongoing problems and issues the world experiences every day must be met as they come. As one situation is resolved with the help of the awareness photojournalism fosters, more will inevitably follow. If the integrity and relevance of photojournalistic reporting is maintained going forward, the world will be informed of things that are important to their own futures. The goal is to be part of a paradigm shift that recognizes the value of the profession and the devastating effects its degradation would have. As such, vigilance and focus will always be required.