Ethical Media Manipulation

Charlotte Bailey

cb908718@gmail.com

 

 

As someone who has permanently dedicated space on their computer to Photoshop, given a portion of their life to learning graphic design and even earned their Associate's Degree in Digital Multimedia Design I can say that the manipulation of digital media is a topic that weighs closely to my heart. That said, you don't need a degree in order to be able to make a convincing fake. Because of this anyone is able to take a photo or video and change it however they see fit.

Ethical Uses of Media Manipulation

What is ethical to do to a piece of media depends completely on the context in which it is being presented. For example, in advertising you will rarely find anything that is real. That is because ads do not present them as real. That said, there is a clear line between being theatrical and false advertising that companies need to be aware of. False advertising is about making false claims.

Below is a Coca-Cola advertisement. It is clearly not a reflection of reality but it isn't making any false claims so it is ethical. If they were saying Coca-Cola was healthy then it would be another story but they are simply portraying people being happy while using their product.

 

Video source: YouTube

In journalism however, media manipulation should be kept at an absolute minimum. This is because the expectations of consumers is completely different from advertising. The expectation is that journalists will present an unbiased portrayal of the truth and while the unbiased part is often left up to negotiation, the truth isn't. If you alter a media piece you are altering the story it tells and that is unacceptable.

 

Picture source: Oddee

An example of this would be the two magazine covers above. Even though they are of the same mugshot the one on the right has clearly been manipulated to seem more foreboding.