Extreme Editing: Trickery in Photojournalism

            In John Taylor’s “Iraqi Torture Photographs and Documentary Realism in the Press”, we go beyond the surface level of photojournalism into the realm of the procedures many photographers must go through in order to get their photos published. Taylor mainly focuses on a particular situation occurring in May 2004 in which United States soldiers were shown abusing, sexually humiliating, and torturing Iraqi prisoners in the Abu Ghraib prison. He also focuses on another case that came out directly after these photos of British soldiers “denigrating” an Iraqi, which turned out to be fake photos that had been through quite a bit of editing. While focusing on these particular cases, Taylor digs into what types of editing are considered ethical in the photojournalism world and what types of editing can ruin a picture or magazines credibility. We also explore just how little of a difference there can be between ethical and unethical editing and how damaging a fake picture can be not only to the magazine or article but to the audience viewing the images. Taylor pretty evenly explores both sides of editing in photojournalism while giving a visual aid to help his audience along.

Taylor, John. “Iraqi Torture Photographs and Documentary Realism in the Press.” Journalism Studies, Volume 6, Number 1. (2005): pp. 39-49. Academic Search         Premier. Web. 9 Feb. 2011.