All Blog Posts from Public Eye

By now, you've surely heard the tale of the 11-year-old boy, the three-hour chase, and the biggest hog you ever saw. CBSNews.com, along with seemingly every other media outlet in the known universe, ran the story of Jamison Stone's successful bagging of the allegedly 1,051 pound monstrosity pictured above.

And now: Scandal! Well, sorta. A Web site called "Stinky Journalism" is calling the photos that appeared in media outlets "obvious fakes, as our in-house photo experts and an NYU physicist attest." (The Stinky Journalism site seems to be down, so we're linking to Deadspin's post on the incident. They got a statement from Stinky J. off a message board.) For specifics, check out Fox News' piece on the dustup, as well as the Stone family's response to the haters.

To try to get to the bottom of this pressing issue, I've called in James Morris, CBSNews.com senior designer and the man behind one of my favorite Public Eye posts ever. Here's his analysis:

There are a few quite simple tricks for telling if a picture has been photoshopped. The most simple of these: if part of one image was enlarged, or brought in from a second photo, there would be tell-tale pixelation (jagged or soft areas) in the photo when it is blown up to great detail. When inspected, this picture didn't show any evidence of basic manipulation as far as I can tell. I think the picture is misleading though, for two, less sinister reasons:

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We were curious about the graphics featured on CBSNews.com, so we approached James Morris, a senior designer on the site, to give us a little insight into the thinking that goes into their creation. James was kind enough to write a piece for us about the challenges, politics and ethical considerations that go into crafting images for CBSNews.com. It's a refreshingly honest peek into the decisions that go into creating the graphics that show up on the site. Here's James:

The Politics Of Photoediting:

We use common sense and often work with news editors to tailor images to a given story. We don't go out of our way to achieve balance in the images we select, but it is something that we consider. (The site's editors are responsible for keeping an eye on issues of balance and looking at the editorial impact of the images used.) If there is a 500,000 person protest, and a 40 person counter-protest, we will make sure to throw in a photo from the smaller event, while giving major play to the larger. One of the great benefits of working on the Web is that space is unlimited. If there is conflict between which of two images is most appropriate, we just publish both.

Personal tendencies do come into play at times. During the first weeks of US operations in Iraq, I noticed that I had tended toward publishing fairly graphic images such as dead bodies and burned cars, where as other designers seemed to favor more editorial or artistically powerful images: Marines carrying babies, apache helicopters in the sunset. Obviously, we are often at the mercy of the image feeds we use, but there is inevitably a personal dimension to the process.

Photoillustrating:

We never doctor a news photo. However, when it comes to photo-illustrating - collages or 'generics' as we call them - we will often digitally manipulate images to emphasize a certain mood.

Sometimes we miss the mark. When Israeli troops had surrounded Arafat and cut power to his compound, I created an image that tried to articulate a man who was cornered and trapped. We received complaints that Arafat was portrayed as being "sinister," and although this was never the intent, it was certainly a valid criticism. We pulled the image.

We have also discontinued the practice of superimposing explosions, fire, bombs or crosshairs over flags after receiving complaints about desecration.





Obituaries:

This is very sensitive turf for journalists. It is common practice to prepare our obituary graphics in advance, especially if the subject has been ill for some time.

These images typically feature a dual image, with a recent photo of the person in the foreground, and an image of them as a young man/woman in the back. Like a good funeral director, we always try and present the deceased in a flattering and respectful way, regardless of who they are.

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