As You See It
Should false photojournalism be abolished?
If you’ve watched Love Island, you may well know that some of the more dramatic scenes (guess-the-sex-position games, secret kisses, thrown drinks, etc.) are filmed repeatedly until they are absolutely perfect for the cameras. I remember being quite disappointed when I first realised that pretty much nothing in reality TV is spontaneous. Not many of us have much faith in what we see on the TV anymore, whether it be news or entertainment.
However, I don’t think the same mistrust has quite breached the photography industry yet. Sure, we’ve all been told that the images we see on platforms like Instagram are a false representation of reality, but do we feel the same about images in print publications?
This question was discussed in ‘Ian Hislop’s Fake News: A History’. The documentary talks about falsity in war photography, referencing photographer Alex Gardner’s 1863 photo named ‘Home of a Rebel Sharpshooter’. The harrowing photo shows a dead soldier lying next to his gun after the Battle of Gettysberg, however, it was later revealed that the photo was completely set up; Gardner used a fake gun prop, and dragged a body 40 yards to the scene, from where he’d used it in for another faked photo earlier that day.
Then there was Robert Capa’s ‘The Falling Soldier’, which is sometimes called ‘the world’s most famous war photograph’. It is still unknown whether this image was faked or not but many people believe that it was, especially after Capa himself commented in an interview, “The prize picture is born in the imagination of the editors and the public who sees them.”
Of course, there are huge ethical issues behind the debate. I can’t think of many things more disrespectful and sickening than manipulating a dead body for the sake of getting a good shot. Also, when an event occurs that the majority of the general public won’t witness first-hand, such as a war, it is more important than ever for coverage to be truthful since readers cannot use their own experience to analyse what happened. However, it also seems to me quite offensive and disrespectful to victims to argue that war photography is false. Besides that, it seems to miss the general point.
Another more recent example of this conflict is the singer Madison Beer’s supposedly staged protest photos earlier this year. Madison was accused of hiring a photographer to take photos of her holding a sign saying ‘No freedom until we’re equal’ at a Black Lives Matter protest in LA, to promote herself and gain publicity. After receiving a lot of hate, she argued ‘my goal is to get my message out and stand alongside these amazing people who I support’.
Although it would obviously be wrong for a celebrity to take advantage of a public crisis for their own benefit, celebrities have a huge social influence and to post images of themselves taking part in social activism seems to be a great way to encourage their supporters to do the same. People would have a lot more time to fight for their beliefs if they stopped investing it into online hate and trolling.
In conclusion, I do not believe that we should shun false photojournalism if we can’t prove it is legitimate. Take the war photos earlier mentioned- those particular photos may be false, but when it comes down to it, there would have been many war scenes that did look like that had there been photographers there to catch them. Completely devaluing the photos seems to completely miss the point behind them- that war is a horrifying occurrence that produces endless atrocities and tragic deaths. Photos can still be shocking and thought provoking even if they are staged, and if they reach out to people then perhaps it doesn’t really matter. Therefore I think we should continue to support photojournalism, but as with social media, accept that what we’re seeing is only a representation of reality. What matters is what we take from it.
Thanks for reading.
www.cosmopolitan.com/uk/reports/a32778824/madison-beer-black-lives-matter/
https://foreignpolicy.com/2014/04/22/did-robert-capa-fake-falling-soldier/
