Alex Molaire’s Each One Teach One project “False photos exacerbated via the Internet” is a clear and consistent depiction of how easy it is for unethical people to alter photographs and give them a wide audience through technology that did not exist just a decade ago.
She truly grasps the photo issues that give newspaper editors nightmares, and should greatly concern anybody with an abiding interest in truth on the Internet.
When a photograph is digitally altered, then represented as a true photograph, the false image “cascades” through the Internet, as Alex so aptly puts it, to wash away the truth and fool people, often for no reason. The Army’s Sept. 8, 2008 alteration of a photo of Sgt. Wesley R. Durban by placing the head and name of Staff Sgt. Darris Dawson on it was disturbing proof that no institution is immune. And the photograph temporarily fooled the Associated Press, until it was withdrawn.
The news industry has developed its own code, however, to fight such digital breeches, and I believe this will at least stop one potential wellspring of false photos.
This analysis by Kenneth Irby of Poynter Institute is a great place to start with an in-depth look at the news industry’s thinking and some small and not-so-small problems. It suggests that a new creed for photojournalists written by the Society for News Design is now an excellent tool, offering a clear code of behavior and a method of defending against mistakes for pressured journalists.
For, as Irby writes, the public is now becoming more critical than ever as digital photo software has gone mainstream.
“On the receiving end are news consumers far better equipped to evaluate the integrity of the photographs — both for accuracy and aesthetics — and to make themselves heard when they believe photojournalists and their news organizations have fallen short.”
Altered photos can even stir the political pot, as this disgraceful incident caused by a fringe artist drew mainstream media and politicians into conflict.
This, again, shows that editors that try to remain neutral can no longer expect to be untouched. They must adopt codes of ethics and tools for action that can protect their integrity and provide truthful photographs for their readers.
As the WIRED article “Every Picture Can Tell a Lie” put it:
“If we let the system break down completely, skepticism will yield to destructive cynicism. And if that happens, we will all be sorry. Today, a good picture is worth a thousand words. For the life of me, I can’t figure out why we would want to devalue that, and make a picture worth nothing more than a lie.”
Alex offers another excellent reference in the article from WIRED – “You Can’t Believe Your Eyes” from photographer Pedro Meyer:
“The public will understand that photographers are more than button-pushers, that they make judgments, and that photographs are created. People approach my work differently now that they’re conscious I can change the image.”
And yet, we see it all the time in our popular culture, from airbrushed magazine covers to full-body transplants for actresses that aren’t quite svelte enough.
Even anti-smoking sentiment can get into the act, as is the case on the cover of Bruce Springsteen’s box set “Tracks,” which shows the singer sitting in a chair with empty hands. The original photo, which has been published elsewhere, clearly shows a pack of cigarettes in one hand and a lit smoke in the other.
Still, photographers have always been prone to monkeying around with their work, from the 1860s through Ansel Adams and beyond, whether art or embarrassment is the goal, photography has always been malleable.
The Internet, however, makes it more pervasive, as Alex persuasively argues. Her reference to the Snopes Fauxtography site offers some amazing examples of frightfully true and false visual images. I especially enjoyed the TV show depiction of a plane accident represented as the real thing.
Just as with written interpretations, it will become more difficult to stop altered visual truth from permeating the Internet. Just as irresponsible hackers will ruin the party for everyone, so will pranksters on a lark, or those with more sinister motives, bend the medium to their own goals.
Alex’s project reminds us that as Internet consumers, blog prose is not the only content we should be wary of, especially as content origin becomes increasingly anonymous.
And Alex is spot-on with some of the solutions she offers, such as this one:
“Establish a photo editing policy at all news organizations: As more false images were discovered, news organizations and societies began developing digital photography ethics codes. A photo editing policy should be enforced at all news organizations so all photographers are following the same set of rules and a high level of journalistic credibility is maintained.”
My newspaper has done this for many years, especially as computers have become more sophisticated, and the photo editor does a great job of enforcing it. He brings commitment and pride to the issue, just as we writers have commitment and pride about accuracy.
All around, an excellent assessment of digital photo issues.
