Photojournalism in Crisis (Dinosaur Media DeathWatch™)

Editor & Publisher ^ | August 18, 2006 | David D. Perlmutter

[abb]

Amid the controversy over certain pictures from Lebanon, a longtime student of war photography asks, "I'm not sure if the craft I love is being murdered, committing suicide, or both."

By David D. Perlmutter

(August 18, 2006) -- The Israeli-Hezbollah war has left many dead bodies, ruined towns, and wobbling politicians in its wake, but the media historian of the future may also count as one more victim the profession of photojournalism. In twenty years of researching and teaching about the art and trade and doing photo-documentary work, I have never witnessed or heard of such a wave of attacks on the people who take news pictures and on the basic premise that nonfiction news photo- and videography is possible.

I'm not sure, however, if the craft I love is being murdered, committing suicide, or both.

Perhaps it would be more reassuring if the enemy at the gates was a familiar one—politicians, or maybe radio talk show hosts. But the photojournalist standing on the crumbling ramparts of her once proud citadel now sees the vandal army charging for the sack led by “zombietime,” “The Jawa Report,” “Powerline,” “Little Green Footballs,” “confederateyankee,” and many others.

In each case, these bloggers have engaged in the kind of probing, contextual, fact-based (if occasionally speculative) media criticism I have always asked of my students. And the results have been devastating: news photos and video shown to be miscaptioned, radically altered, or staged (and worse, re-staged) for the camera. Surely “green helmet guy,” “double smoke,” “the missiles that were actually flares,” “the wedding mannequin from nowhere,” the “magical burning Koran,” the “little girl who actually fell off a swing” and “keep filming!” will now enter the pantheon of shame of photojournalism.

A few photo-illusions are probably due to the lust for the most sensational or striking-looking image—that is, more aesthetic bias than political prejudice. Also, many photographers know that war victims are money shots and some will break the rules of the profession to cash in. But true as well is that local stringers and visiting anchors alike seem to have succumbed either to lens-enabled Stockholm syndrome or accepted being the uncredited Hezbollah staff photographer so as to be able to file stories and images in militia-controlled areas.

It does not help that certain news organizations have acted like government officials or corporate officers trying to squash a scandal. The visual historian in me revolts when an ABC producer informs me that Reuters “deleted all 920 images” by the stringer who produced the “Beirut double smoke” image and is “less than willing to talk about it.” Can you say “18-minute gap,” anyone?

There is one great irony here. From a historical perspective, this is the golden age of photojournalistic ethics. In previous eras wild retouching, rearranging, cutting of images and even staging and restaging of events for the camera were commonly accepted in the trade. As someone who has written a history of images of war, I can testify there is more honesty in war photography today than ever in the past in any medium or any war--but there is, of course, much more scrutiny as well.

The main point is that we are now at a social, political and technological crossroads for media—amateur, industrial, and all points and persons in between. First, we live in Photoshop-CGI culture. People are accustomed to watching the amazing special effects of modern movies, where it seems any scene that can be imagined can be pixilated into appearing photorealistic. On our desktop, many of us are photoshopping our lives, manipulating family photos with ease.

In addition, in a digital-Internet-satellite age, any image on the Web can be altered by anyone into any new image and there is no “original,” as in a negative, to prove which was first. The icons are sacred no longer. Finally, there are the bloggers: the visual or word journalist is not only overseen by a familiar hierarchy of editors or producers but by many independents who will scan, query, trade observations, and blast what they think is an error or manipulation to the entire world.

News picture-making media organizations have two paths of possible response to this unnerving new situation. First, they can stonewall, deny, delete, dismiss, counter-slur, or ignore the problem. To some extent, this is what is happening now and, ethical consideration aside, such a strategy is the practical equivalent of taking extra photos of the deck chairs on the Titanic.

The second, much more painful option, is to implement your ideals, the ones we still teach in journalism school. Admit mistakes right away. Correct them with as much fanfare and surface area as you devoted to the original image. Create task forces and investigating panels. Don’t delete archives but publish them along with detailed descriptions of what went wrong. Attend to your critics and diversify the sources of imagery, or better yet be brave enough to refuse to show any images of scenes in which you are being told what to show. I would even love to see special inserts or mini-documentaries on how to spot photo bias or photo fakery—in other words, be as transparent, unarrogant, and responsive as you expect those you cover to be.

The stakes are high. Democracy is based on the premise that it is acceptable for people to believe that some politicians or news media are lying to them; democracy collapses when the public believes that everybody in government and the press is lying to them.

And what of future victims of war? Will the public deny them their sorrows because we will dismiss all smoking rubble and dead children as mere digital propaganda?

Photojournalism must live, but not if its practitioners and owners are determined to jump into the abyss.

David D. Perlmutter (letters@editorandpublisher.com) is a Professor and Associate Dean for Graduate Studies & Research at the University of Kansas¿s School of Journalism & Mass Communications. He is author of "Visions of War, Photojournalism and Foreign Policy," and a book of documentary photography, Policing the Media."

[EQAndyBuzz]

"I'm not sure, however, if the craft I love is being murdered, committing suicide, or both. "

Photojournalists committed suicide by whoring itself out to anti American and anti Israel propaganda outlets. They thought that we would just sit there and believe the pictures as proof of what was going on.

Believing what you see is no longer valid.

They are no more jounalists than I am.

[dirtboy]

But true as well is that local stringers and visiting anchors alike seem to have succumbed either to lens-enabled Stockholm syndrome or accepted being the uncredited Hezbollah staff photographer so as to be able to file stories and images in militia-controlled areas.

He skips around the core issue with this sentence. This isn't Stockholm Syndrome. IMO most of the photogs and editors involved here actively side with Hiz and the Palestinians over Israel. They are not upset that they were spreading propaganda, only that they got caught. Otherwise, they would be willing to air out the truth like this guy suggested.

[bethtopaz]

Is she related to Bagdad Bob? (remember him?) The similarity is eerie.

[GOPJ]

It does not help that certain news organizations have acted like government officials or corporate officers trying to squash a scandal. The visual historian in me revolts when an ABC producer informs me that Reuters “deleted all 920 images” by the stringer who produced the “Beirut double smoke” image and is “less than willing to talk about it.” Can you say “18-minute gap,” anyone?

LOL - The MSM is Nixon!!!

[Grampa Dave]

A lot of us wonder is she is really a she.

[bethtopaz]

You never know - but then you know how the Mooslums feel about gays and transexuals -- they will be punished with the greatest of punishment, they say.

[ozzymandus]

People have been faking photographs since the daguerreotype, but the lefties have gotten so brazen about it they've finally overplayed their hand

[conservatism_IS_compassion]

The stakes are high. Democracy is based on the premise that it is acceptable for people to believe that some politicians or news media are lying to them; democracy collapses when the public believes that everybody in government and the press is lying to them.

To the contrary, republican government is based on the premise that the median voter will be cautious enough, often enough, to keep republican government from being as bad as aristocratic government.

The wisest and most cautious of us all frequently gives credit to stories which he himself is afterwards both ashamed and astonished that he could possibly think of believing . . .

It is acquired wisdom and experience only that teach incredulity, and they very seldom teach it enough. - Adam Smith

[PajamaTruthMafia]

Thanks for the ping guys! Abb - add me to your ping list.

For future reference:

The Reutergate scandal and issues with Beirut Photos in general.

There are 3 areas of concern: 1) Staging of photos and; 2) Doctoring of photos and, 3) Misleading Captions

Links are in chronological order.

RECAPS:

Excellent Video recap by aish.com

Excellent Video recap by Michelle Malkin

CNN's Anderson Copper Admits to seeing staging plus Germany TV video catches Green Helmet in the Act

The Corruption of the Media A lengthy, comprehensive review of Fauxtography at Qana by EU Referendum

ISSUE 1, STAGING OF PHOTOS:

"Milking it" (Critical look at Qana photos)

"Hezbollywood? Evidence mounts that Qana collapse and deaths were staged"

"Who is this Man?" (Green Helmet)

"Qana - the director's cut"

"The truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth" (Green Helmet & Co, show up in Tyre)

"Reuters calls the doctor, take 2" (Powerline blog exposes yet another suspect group of photos same damage reported as new 12 days apart)

"Extreme Makeover - Beirut Edition" (Drinking from Home exposed more photos. This time, the same woman is shown losing her home first in Southern Beirut on 7/22 and then in the "suburbs of Beirut" on 8/5)

"Shaking the Dead" (Confederate Yankee shows staged photos of a "rescue worker" grasping a hand protruding from the rubble for both Reuters and AP)

"The Passion of the Toys" (Slublog has a collection of all the posed stuffed animals among the ruble)

"Lights, Camera, Action!" ICRC Posing with bodies

Green Helmet the movie director [Germany's NDR busts him in the act]

ISSUE 2, DOCTORING OF PHOTOS

Little Green Footballs uncovered an obviously doctored photo by Hajj (Beirut Smoke)

It was quickly picked up here on FR

Reuters admits the first photo (Beirut smoke) was doctored and suspended Hajj

A second doctored photo (F16) was identified by Jawa

Reuters admits the second photo was also doctored, fired Hajj and withdrew all 920 of his photographs

ISSUE 3: MISLEADING CAPTIONS:

New York Times Busted in Hezbollah Photo Fraud!

More Reuters Fauxtography [Caption Correction Issued]

[potlatch]

Aww, glad you liked that Grampa Dave!!

[Milhous]

You know the old saying..."A picture is worth 1000 words?"

My favorite picture and caption to capture this whole sorry episode follows:

And the results have been devastating: news photos and video shown to be miscaptioned, radically altered, or staged (and worse, re-staged) for the camera.

Qana - the director's cut

. . .

Now the strategy becomes clear. Round the corner and on top of the rise formed by "Stretcher Alley" is the "fiercely competitive" media, coralled like sheep in a pen, waiting for the next photo-opportunity to be presented to them. And Hezbollah is about to lay on the performance of a lifetime, a human interest story starring "Green Helmet and "White Tee-shirt" in a bravura display of raw emotion.

News picture-making media organizations have two paths of possible response to this unnerving new situation. First, they can stonewall, deny, delete, dismiss, counter-slur, or ignore the problem. To some extent, this is what is happening now and, ethical consideration aside, such a strategy is the practical equivalent of taking extra photos of the deck chairs on the Titanic.

The Corruption of the Media Part 1 - Introduction

. . .

If this is worrying enough, of greater concern has been the response of the media and, in particular the news agencies which employed many of the photographers at Qana. Fronted initially by the Kathleen Carroll, senior vice president and executive editor for Associated Press Associated Press, they issued an early denial, without addressing any of the substantive issues we raised. Other media outlets have since joined the fray, including The Guardian and The Daily Telegraph, through its web site editor.

Their tactics have been both predictable and wearyingly familiar. Instead of addressing our substantive points, they have concentrated on details, picking on our errors and false starts, arguing that such flaws irredeemably damage our case. Others have branded us "right-wing", "pro-Israeli" or simply "conspiracy theorists", as if that could explain away the evidence we have gathered.

[Milhous]

In the Media Era, politics were national and often planetary. But standing between you and the public audience were the gatekeepers who determined the agenda. Poisoned milk in Peoria? If Dan Rather didn't schedule five minutes for it, it didn't happen. Vietnam protestors? Walter Kronkite says that it gets fifteen minutes, at the top of the show. Castro kills and murders? Uncle Fidel's not getting slandered on this news report!

It's not your father's media

. . .

Consumers of news now understand that, as Eastland says, "News is a thing made, a product, and that media with certain beliefs and values once made the news and then presented it in authoritative terms, as though beyond criticism. Thus did Walter Cronkite famously end his newscasts, 'And that's the way it is.' That way, period."

When, after the misreported Tet offensive of 1968 (a U.S. military victory described as a crushing defeat), Cronkite declared Vietnam a "stalemate," he spoke, as Mindich says, to "a captive audience." Nearly 80 percent of television sets in use at the dinner hour were tuned to one of the three network newscasts, and Cronkite had the largest share.

If that had been the broadcast marketplace in 2004, John Kerry would be president: The three networks reported the Swift boat veterans attacks on Kerry only after coverage of the attacks by cable news and talk radio forced Kerry to respond. The networks were very interested in charges pertaining to a Vietnam-era story about George W. Bush's alleged dereliction of National Guard duties -- until bloggers, another manifestation of new, small and nimble media, shredded it.

Gn 22:17 your descendants shall take possession of the gates of their enemies

Anyone With A Modem Can Report On The World

. . .

[Hillary Clinton] said, "We're all going to have to rethink how we deal with the Internet. As exciting as these new developments are, there are a number of serious issues without any kind of editing function or gatekeeping function."

Newspaper sale$ decline should be blamed on the Journos

. . .

People who work at journalism full time ought to be able to do a better job of it than people for whom it is a hobby. But that's not going to happen as long as we "professional" journalists ignore stories we don't like and try to hide our mistakes. We think of ourselves as "gatekeepers." But there is not much future in being a gatekeeper when the walls are down.

[TChad]

I'm not sure, however, if the craft I love is being murdered, committing suicide, or both.

It seems odd to find a journalism school professor who is up to speed on this stuff. I am more accustomed to J school profs who are unapologetic lefty propagandists, intent on teaching their students how to "make a difference" by lying for liberalism.

I hope Perlmutter has tenure.

[Grampa Dave]

PTM thanks for posting your excellent documentation re Fauxtography and staging in Lebanon.

If you want to be pinged in our ongoing bulletins on MSM woes, let me know.

Abb is our main bird dog, and he posts these great threads about the death throes of the MSM.

[Grampa Dave]

I had requests to add Beer Guy to my faux montage of pictures from Lebanon, and your latest one added Beer Guy and the worthless Murtha.

You are doing some really creative work.

[PajamaTruthMafia]

Grampa Dave, definitely add me to your ping list.

Check out this piece of fauxtography when you get a chance:

http://www.snappedshot.com/index.php?/archives/57-When-is-a-man,-more-than-a-man.html

[Grampa Dave]

Great job PTM. This appears to be miss labeling of a photo. My guess is the dead Islamofascist fired on IDF forces while standing on the left side of the Volvo. The IDF returned the fire and killed him. He was no innocent by stander.

To the hard core Watch the MSM die group, this is an introduction to FR's PajamaTruthMafia, who has done a great job of documenting the Fauxtography and staging photos during the recent war in Lebanon. PTM would like to be on our hard core ping list re MSM Woes.

[Milhous]

Excellent find. Paraphrasing Reagan with regards to MSM's typically disingenuous stories it seems best to distrust but verify on the off chance that an MSM story actually contains a grain of truth.

[devolve]

<---LOW TIRE PRESSURE CAN KILL YOU

[potlatch]

Thank you so much Grampa Dave, I appreciate the compliment!