Bolter and Grusin, 87-131

On page 108, B&G write of Meyer's and Mitchell's contention that "with the advent of digital technology the photograph has lost the simple relationship to the real that it previously enjoyed." Despite the fact that altered photographs have a relatively long history, as evidenced by the inclusion of the "fairies" photos in this book, few among the digitally literate today would be fooled by the less sophisticated efforts of the past. However, modern photo-enhancement technology does pose a valid threat as far as I see it -- in a field where accuracy is supposed to count for something: journalism.

Just last year, the following story came to light (http://photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=00KmcT):

[In April 2007] Toledo Blade photographer Allen Detrich resigned after admitting he had digitally altered a news photograph of the Blufton University baseball team praying at their first practice since the bus crash in Atlanta that killed some of their team members. Now it turns out that Dietrich has been doing this for a while now.

"The changes Mr. Detrich made included erasing people, tree limbs, utility poles, electrical wires, electrical outlets, and other background elements from photographs. In other cases, he added elements such as tree branches and shrubbery," Blade editor Ron Royhab explained. "Mr. Detrich also submitted two sports photographs in which items were inserted. In one he added a hockey puck, and in the other he added a basketball, each hanging in mid-air. Neither was published."

On its website, The Blade posted three examples showing how Detrich altered photos, including the original version of the Bluffton image. Those can be found here.

"Readers have asked us why this was such a big deal. What's wrong with changing the content of a photograph that is published in a newspaper? The answer is simple: It is dishonest," Royhab wrote. "Journalism, whether by using words or pictures, must be an accurate representation of the truth."
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

People may scoff at this in a world where media are considered their own kind of monster, and news and infotainment at times can't tell each other apart, but if news journalists succumb to the temptation to use their skills to digitally alter photographs rather than to tell a genuine story using representations of the realities on hand, then that particular watchdog of society will be put to sleep, as it were. They say truth is more compelling than fiction, and photojournalists should take that to heart.