"Fraud, Lies & PhotoShop"

Journal Entry Question #2
In photojournalism, when is it appropriate to use PhotoShop? When is it not appropriate? Does altering the photograph mean altering the truth?

There is a certain sense of respect towards journalists in today’s world. Without them, society would not know what is going on in the other side of the globe. They present facts, stories and issues of people and countries that are affected by war, poverty, consumerism and globalization in hopes of getting information out. As a journalist, their obligation is to tell the truth and capture that through photos, words, graphics, designs and broadcasts.

Consumers demand full disclosure and hard facts about current issues going on in the world. Such high demands send journalists to get the up-to-the-minute, first-hand stories. However, some stories do not turn out to be as exciting or serious or “hard-hitting” as anticipated. Unfortunately, some journalists feel that it is a wasted effort to follow stories that readers might not consider interesting. As a result, they are forced to manipulate facts, stories, interviews, and pictures in order to alter the truth.

Reuters, an international news provider photographed a bombing in Lebanon. However, through PhotoShop, photo-editing software, the photograph was manipulated using the "clone tool" in the billowing smoke over Beirut so that the photograph would be more effective. Manipulating photographs adversely alters the truth and this approach, in my opinion is very unprofessional and unethical.

Photoshop is a very effective software that is widely used for media editing, animation and authoring. It is a key tool for graphic professionals, including photojournalists. However, the use of Photoshop to edit photos should be limited and there should be strict restrictions as to how much a photograph can be manipulated for professional journalists. I personally think that photos are not meant to be perfect and should have as little photo editing done to them as possible because the true essence of truth is captured through the unedited photographs. By altering photographs, journalists might be intentionally, or unintentionally change how people perceive the initial message.

It is important to keep in mind that many journalists use photo editing to manipulate the truth of stories when covering a story. It is imperative that we try to distinguish the truth from those that may have been altered. One way of doing this is to follow one or more news reporters on the same stories so that any exploitation of the truth can be detected.