The truth behind the War Photograph

There is something unique and different case from media report ABC news, an interview on October 2007 about “The power of photograph” that I would like to share. It’s about the ‘War Photo Limited Gallery’ in Cortain port city of Dubrovink by photojournalists Wade Goddard and Frederic Hanrez had display war photographs of conflict between Israel and Lebanon. They believed through this gallery can communicate the reality of the war’s violence and injustice in many places where basic rights of humanity is being a question. Photojournalism as the skill of story telling through photograph that could transcend cultural and language bounds are being a hot career currently (Kenneth, F 2009). Wilson, B 2003, stated that the number of photojournalists has increased about 40% in 1996.

I would adopt Wolf and Grotta (1985) acknowledged that photographs are powerful tools of communication. I agreed that it is a good thing to use photographs to share your thoughts and opinion towards the public because images could evoke emotional responses among viewers. However, in these advanced technology, photojournalists must aware of the ethical decisions on what to shoot, what to use, and when images can be altered. According to Burkholder, C 2009, photojournalists must be accurate and comprehensive in the representation of the subjects and also respect the integrity of the photographic moment. In fact, the demand for attention-grabbing photos as photojournalists makes accuracy as a major ethical issue in photojournalism field. This is because sometimes the picture that you took could cause harm to the object of the photograph because of over expose. According to Vision on in the UK, underexposed: “Pictures can lie and liars can use pictures”, in the other words, photojournalists could manipulate in order to deceive the viewer from their own perspectives.

How can war photograph can "lie to" the public?

"Fallen Soldier", 1936, by Robert Capa - Spanish Civil

Sources: http://ethicalmartini.wordpress.com/2009/07/19/iconic-falling-soldier-staged-yeah-we-know/

The fallen soldier is one of the greatest war images ever has shown that he's being fatally shot or just staged scene. Lately, a Spanish researcher found thae picture was about 35 miles away from where previously thought. This new information has reignited debated about whether the photograph is genuine.

Taken by Lebanese photgrapher, Adnan Hajj, 2006, Beirut

Source: http://blog.taragana.com/index.php/archieve

The photograph of news agency Reuters that taken by him was discovered that he apparently added dark smoke (right) to the the image. This manipulation was considered as a violation of its standards.

Iranian missile photo - 2008

Source: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2008045953_iranphoto11.html

The photograph at right side was apparently altered to show a fourth missile lifting off. Analysis's believed that the photo was altered to conceal the misfiring of one missile and to make Iran's military seem more powerful.

From the examples above, we can see on the truth behind the war photographs that are not accurate because of the manipulation from the photojournalists itself. As the consumer of the photograph, we might not know about the truth behind the scene on how photojournalists try to make up the photograph to tell the world that war is injustice. Unfortunately, I guess some photojournalists are just over excited and twist the truth through manipulation and lie to the public.

References:

Burkholder, C 2009, Online Journalism Ethics: Photojournalism, retrieved online on 14 June 2010, from: .

Lester, P 1999, Photojournalism an Ethical Approach: Chapter Five – Rights to Privacyhttp://commfaculty.fullerton.edu/lester/writings/chapter5.html>

Mitchell, S 2002, Beyond the Lens, retrieved online on 15 June 2010, from: http://www.worldpress.org.Europe/665.cfm.

Patterson & Wilkins 2008, Media Ethics: Issues and Cases, 6^th ed, McGrawHill: NY, p.239.

The Media Report, 2007, The Power of Photograph, retrieved online on 14 June 2010, from: <http://www.abc.net.au/rn/mediareport/stories/2007/2051819.htm>.

Wilson, B 2003, Careers in Photojournalism, retrieved online on 14 June 2010, from: <http://www.cartage.org.lb/en/themes/arts/photography/fieldskinds/photjournal/careers.htm>.