Pictures. A square of pixels on the screen that can oftentimes draw more attention than any headline. Whether it be an article on a news outlet or a link to an article on a social media site such as Twitter, it is much more likely to get attention if there is a noteworthy photo attached to it. Pictures are a key part of journalism and serve as a visual way of sharing the news and events that occurred in real-time. While pictures are an essential part of journalism, when altered and photoshopped, pictures do more harm than good.
Albert Einstein once said, “A picture is worth a thousand words.” This is true.
Sometimes, a picture can tell the story better than any words can. So when does a photo become bad for journalism?
Photos become harmful for journalism when they are photoshopped. Photoshopping a photo can be understood as altering the photo, changing it, adding content, removing content, and overall making it different than it originally was.
The reason a photo is so important to journalism is that it shows what was captured exactly as it happened. When a photo is photoshopped, that is no longer the case.
Photoshopping a photo directly violates the first and 5th principles of the Five Core Principals of Journalism.
First, photoshop violates principle 1: Truth and Accuracy. An unaltered photo would apply to this principle, because the photo is exactly as the moment was, making it truthful and accurate. When a photo is photoshopped, it becomes inaccurate untruthful. As it now spreads false information, it becomes harmful.
Photoshop also violates principle 5: Accountability. Journalists are held to a higher standard and must remain accountable for their actions. However, with technology today, it is very easy to make photoshop appear so well that one would never know an image was photoshopped, to begin with. Thus, oftentimes the photoshopper gets away with it and does not have to be held responsible for their wrongdoing.
When photoshopped images are shared, readers will look at the photo and believe it to be true, as journalism holds a duty to do so. However, the image could be untruthful, and now the viewers are misinformed.
Journalism has a civic duty to spread the truth and nothing but the truth. When images are photoshopped, they contribute to spreading false information.
In 2008, The Guardian published a story on why photoshop is killing photojournalism. This was written 13 years ago, and technological advances have only skyrocketed since then. The issues talked about in this article have only worsened even more in today’s time.
In today’s world, photos are a must. Photos are a crucial part of journalism and storytelling. Pictures share news and events and are helpful in conveying what words sometimes cannot. However, when a photo is altered and photoshopped, it loses all credibility, accuracy, and truth. The 5 Principles of Journalism exist to keep journalists in check when reporting and writing, but these principles also need to be applied to photos as well. When an image is photoshopped, it violates both principles 1 and 5. Photos can go from an amazing addition to journalism to a harmful and misleading component with photoshop. Be wise and do not photoshop photos. A photo captures a moment, unaltered and exactly how it happened. Let’s keep it that way!
