Alterations in Journalistic Photography

Photography holds a great deal of influence and impact on society. Photography can create public perception about historical events, people and places. Photography can shape people's views, distort people's realities, and create ideals. Photojournalists often control most of this power, as far as images are concerned. Photojournalists also have a commitment and duty to the public to ensure that they follow the guidelines and ethics set forth by various journalistic code of ethics. The public also has the right to know the truth, if the photograph is presented as a piece of journalistic work. The main purpose of photographs in the media is to try to tell the story without changing the reality. That means staging photographs is frowned upon and deleting objects, or people is not allowed.

"Despite the journalistic codes of ethics, many photographers have been selling their images to the news media, claiming that they have created documentary photography. Instead their work includes post production editing, especially playing with the light on the photographs". (p. 19 Smith Salgado Shooting The Truth Gordana Icevska).

Who does the public believe? Consider the two images below: Left is an Image of Bigfoot on the cover of the Weekly World News, 30 October, 2001. The image on the right is a Pulitzer Prize Winning photo of a firefighter holding a baby at the scene of the Oklahoma City Bombing, 19 April, 1995. The image on the left is obviously staged, or has been manipulated to look a certain way for the story in the publication. The photograph on the right is a true documentation of the facts. With the increase of digital and analog technologies the tools photojournalists have at their disposals make it very difficult for the public to differentiate between fact and fiction.

Left: Weekly World News Cover. Oct. 30, 2001. Right: Charles Porter. April 19. 1995. Sports News.

"According to the Code of Ethics of the National Press Photographers Association (NPPA) photojournalists should respect the integrity of the photographic moment. The long post production process, regardless if it is in a dark room or on a computer using Photoshop, is contrary to the basic principles of photojournalism". (p.21 Smith Salgado Shooting The Truth. Gordana Icevska).

Below is another altered image, but between the three images we can see just what lengths some photojournalists will go through in order to get their version of the perfect photograph. The final results after post-production make it very difficult for the untrained eye to detect that any manipulations have occurred. Walski’s doctored image below appeared in newspapers around the country, including The Hartford Courant and the Chicago Tribune. The fake would have gone undetected had it not been for an employee at The Hartford Courant, who noticed that a person in the background appeared twice within the photograph.

Brian Walski. Chicago Tribune. March 2003.

"Photographic and video images can reveal great truths, expose wrongdoing and neglect, inspire hope and understanding and connect people around the globe through the language of visual understanding. Photographs can also cause great harm if they are callously intrusive or are manipulated". (NPPA Code of Ethics. 2009).

Photojournalists with the wrong intentions can hurt the public, and over time if manipulating journalistic photographs pursues, the public will eventually loose all trust, and respect for the profession. Each time a journalist manipulates a photograph they are manipulating the audience's mind as well. Wether the photographs altered are used for propaganda, or personal satisfaction, manipulation of documentary photography is wrong, hurtful, and unjust.