The Greatest Visual Storytelling Sin
As a recent journalism graduate, I take the topic of misinformation very seriously. It is constantly being spread, especially on social media. With the growth of AI, pictures are being manipulated and completely changed in ways that are believable. As a journalist, I find this to be the greatest visual storytelling sin as it is a threat toward digital journalism and society due to more misinformation being spread. News organizations, such as ABC News, are reporting how AI is a “real worry” since AI is making it harder to notice fake images. The more misinformation is spread, the harder it is for people to know what’s real and what’s not and believe journalists who are reporting the facts.
However, photos have been manipulated long before AI and even Photoshop. According to Wired, the earliest example of a faked image was back in 1855 when Roger Fenton’s image of a bombed-out landscape in Ukraine was staged. This was only the beginning for Fenton. It turned out he had manipulated over 40 photos. Since then, more and more images have been faked and manipulated to spread false information.
Fast forward to today, fake images are being manipulated and shared online on a regular basis. In fact, an article posted Dec 15 2023 on a Canada news website explains how fake nudes of young girls generated by AI were circulated in a local school. This shows how fake images not only threaten journalism, but also threaten the safety of everyone.
An example of fake AI images affecting the news are the recent images leaked of Donald Trump being arrested… which ended up being entirely false and untrue. If you look closely at the images, it can be seen the images are altered and aren’t real. However, the hyper-real affect it gives is what made the images spread like wildfire online, spreading misinformation. Below are the images retrieved from BBC News:
As technology evolves, it is becoming easier to fake images and spread them in real time. Unfortunately, many people will jump to conclusions when seeing these images and believe their true. It takes journalists and news outlets to debunk the fake images and clarify what exactly is happening. With the rise of misinformation, especially in photography, it’s important for media consumers to understand fact checking and not be afraid to question the images they see from non-news sources.