It is no secret that imagery is powerfully influential. Imagery has caused discussions, protests, and even riots. An example of the impact of imagery is the video of George Floyd's interaction with the cops a couple of years ago. That isn't the first time something has happened, but many become outraged when people see the video. Imagery is important in advertising, political movements, and journalism.
With imagery being so powerful, people have to be careful about when and how they use images--especially journalists. One of the frequent struggles in newsrooms is deciding whether an image is too graphic to show. Some believe it is essential to see these images, and others believe it's not. The Falling Man is one of the most famous examples of this. This photo shows a man falling from the World Trade Center following the 9/11 terrorist attack. The photographer of the photo, Richard Drew, told TIME Magazine that it's a quiet photo and "it's not like a lot of other violent photographs from other disasters." Though this may be the case, the image still sparked conversations that continue to this day.
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| Credit: https://theconversation.com/in-a-battle-of-ai-versus-ai-researchers-are-preparing-for-the-coming-wave-of-deepfake-propaganda-146536 |
Photographs have been around for a long time, so deciding to publish a photo or not isn't a new idea. But a relatively recent problem has arisen with the continuing advancement of technology. People in videos are now able to be manipulated with technology. This act is called "deep-fakes." For example, this technology can take a video of a person talking and make it look like they're saying something different. That brings an issue to journalists because it makes verifying if a video is accurate. Also, this makes it even harder for newsrooms to be the first to break a story because it adds an extra level to the fact-checking process. The Wall Street Journal trains its reporters to identify if a video is a deep fake before circulating the video.
Again, imagery is powerfully influential. It can change people's lives, bring up discussions and cause destruction. That being said, journalists need to be careful when releasing photos or videos and take a second to think about the effects of the imagery and its credibility. But at the same time, journalists have to be sure they're not censoring material to the point facts are being hidden. Instead, journalists should work to equip the public with information to make their own decisions and have ethics and the effects on others in mind.
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