Dawn Bilinovich
Dawnwct@gmail.com
Goodfreephotos.com
Photo manipulation is hot these days. There's nothing like an Instagram filter to make you look more...well, interesting. These various face altering apps aren't necessarily meant to deceive consumers--at least I hope that isn't their intention, otherwise epic fail. I mean, I don't think anyone is fooled into believing I have butterflies circling my head as I move about my day, or a cute little bunny nose complete with whiskers. These apps are just meant to inspire fun and creativity.
But what happens when fun and creativity aren't the motives; what happens when the images are intended to deceive?
History
The first photograph was produced by Joseph Niepce around 1826-1827. Photo manipulation was employed within a few decades. Most instances of early photo manipulation included editing images; either someone who was not present in the original image who needed to be added or an undesired person needed to be removed. One of the most famous and earliest recorded cases in 1860 include the head of President Lincoln placed on the body of Southern politician John Calhoun.
Edited
Today, journalists continue to edit photographs; their intentions might--or, might not be--nefarious. For example, sometimes humor is the objective. Using poorly placed letters on the side of an architectural building is ironic, and clearly meant only to garner a few laughs.
Boredpanda.com
But what about photographs edited with the intent to deceive and polarize consumers? For example, Fox News disregarded ethical photojournalism guidelines when the news source photo-shopped an image of an armed man into different photographs of Seattle's controversial protest zone in the wake of George Floyd's death.
Businessinsider.com
Snopes.com
Dpreview.com
The NPPA warns against manipulating or editing photographs in a way that misleads consumers. "Editing should maintain the integrity of the photographic images' content and context. Do not manipulate images or add or alter the sound in any way that can mislead viewers or misrepresent subjects" (nppa.org).
While Fox News did apologize for the edited images, it's hard to know how many consumers were ultimately manipulated or mislead by one or more of the photographs.
Staged
Another type of misleading photojournalism is staged photography. Staged photography is when the photographs' subjects are either strategically placed and photographed to convey a particular message or elicit a certain response OR when a photograph was created for a different purpose than what it is being used for.
For example, Abdul Aziz al Otaibi was working on an art project in Saudi Arabia when he shot the photograph below of his nephew. Later, the photograph was used in a Daily Bhaskar news story claiming the photo depicted a Syrian boy sleeping between his parents' graves; they had been reportedly killed by the Bashar's regime. Both the story and the photograph's description were fictitious. The news source acquired the image from a social media link that had been shared numerous times.
Taken by Abdul Aziz al Otaibi, photographer
Cropped
This image of Jeffery Epstein and longtime confidant, Ghislaine Maxwell, made headlines recently after the photograph was used in a Fox News story, which featured information surrounding Maxwell's arrest. The photograph had been cropped to remove President Trump; it was reportedly a mistake. However, media critic Eric Wemple speculated in The Washington Post that it was done intentionally to avoid casting a negative light on the President. He stated, "Carving Trump out of such a photo takes deliberation and effort."
unilad.co.uk
Misrepresented
This photograph of Hilary Clinton was not edited, staged, or cropped. However, the information accompanying the photo was inaccurate.
Nothing is more embarrassing than slipping in public, except perhaps reading about it the next day in the newspaper--especially when you've been pegged wrongly as being in poor health.
According to a First Draft article by Victoria Kwan, editors of reliable news sources wanting to debunk such a story must be careful when printing information in rebuttal to avoid further amplification of the misinformation.
Getty Images
Fact Check
When in doubt, do some digging. Fact-checking is usually quick, easy, and painless--unless of course, you learn something that contradicts your political beliefs...that can be very painful indeed!
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