Manipulated

Kristin Heinichen
kd952702@ohio.edu

In many cases, it’s the journalists themselves who have injured the media’s credibility. This loss of public trust has occurred from embellished writing and misuse of sources. And in some instances, journalists have inflicted wounds of massive deception where subjects and scenes had been invented. And some photographers have joined the likes of those writers who fictionalize their tale.

The case of Brian Walski, former staff photographer of the Los Angeles Times, is an example where a member of the media compromised his standards in journalism for publication and accolades. On April 1, 2003, Walski was fired for a composite of two images he had captured while covering the war in Iraq for the paper.

The photo was a combination of two photos that Walski took moments apart of a British soldier and a group of Iraqi civilians. The altered composite, which ran in the Los Angeles Times, the Hartford Courant and The Chicago Tribune, was revealed as one Iraq civilian was duplicated in the photo. Walski admitted his folly and wrote a 214-word apology. Colin Crawford, Los Angeles Times Director of Photography, was mortified with Walski’s stunt. Though he did not apologize for him, Crawford acknowledged that Walski had been imbedded in Iraq for 27 days, and it had taken its toll.

This incident was more than a lapse in judgement, it was a breakdown in ethical standards. And he paid dearly. Walski was not only fired, but he lost his credentials to ever shoot for a publication again. Walski may have been tempted by the benefits and stardom of taking an award winning photo. Whatever his motivation, Walski cost the paper its integrity as a reliable and fair news source. There is nothing to justify his decision of manipulating this photo which may have put further doubt in the minds of readers world-wide about their media.