Buzz
Countless iconic images have been doctored to advance ideological motives, sway public emotions, or reshape reality to suit a narrative. Techniques for producing 'fauxtographs' include misleading captions, strategic angles, and more. This collection focuses on 10 digitally or manually altered photos that were falsely presented as authentic by mainstream media. For more entertaining and insightful fauxtography stories, visit StinkyJournalism. Don’t miss the first list of fauxtos here.
10. Sarkozy Sheds Pounds
This is Influence. Paris Match, a celebrity magazine, faced accusations of digitally removing French President Nicolas Sarkozy’s excess weight. If only it were that simple. Sarkozy was previously linked to the dismissal of a Paris Match editor after the magazine published photos of his wife with an alleged lover. These images suggest that Sarkozy may now be benefiting from favorable treatment due to his ties to influential figures like media tycoon Arnoud Lagardere, who owns Paris Match. [Source]
9. Steve Jobs
This case is nearly a toss-up but deserves attention due to its alignment with the article’s narrative. In TIME magazine’s 2008 article, “Why is Steve Jobs skipping MacWorld?”, they highlighted the Apple CEO’s frail appearance amid his fight with pancreatic cancer. While Jobs did appear thin, the photo exaggerated his condition, making him look even thinner and taller. Mac Daily News accused TIME of distorting the image by altering the XY axis to amplify Jobs’ illness. TIME denied the claim, blaming the issue on incorrect height and width settings on their website. The original, unaltered photo was published the following day. [Source]
8. Oprah’s Dramatic Transformation
Oprah Winfrey, a globally renowned talk show host and one of the wealthiest African American women, rose from modest beginnings and is known for her philanthropy. Despite her lifelong status as a ‘healthy woman of size,’ TV Guide controversially superimposed her head onto a 1979 promotional image of white actress Ann-Margret. (The original photo is in color.) Winfrey, upon seeing the image, remarked she would never dare to wear such a revealing dress. TV Guide later confessed to using the photos without consent from either woman and cautioned its graphic artist to avoid being ‘so literal’ in the future. [Source]
7. James Purnell
James Purnell, the UK Culture Secretary, gained notoriety for criticizing rigged BBC phone-in contests. However, when he missed a photo opportunity at Thameside hospital, he instructed organizers to digitally insert him into a picture with other MPs, creating the illusion of his presence. The MPs even stood aside to make space for his addition. The scandal erupted immediately, prompting Jeremy Hunt to question, “How can broadcasters be expected to reform if the secretary of state is endorsing photo manipulation?” Purnell weathered the controversy but resigned from Parliament in February 2010. [Source]
6. Media Awareness Network
The Media Awareness Network (MNET), a Canadian initiative aimed at fostering critical thinking about media among youth, ironically used a fabricated image for its 2001 brochure. The cover photo, a composite of multiple shots, depicted an idyllic (and entirely fake) view “from Parliament Hill overlooking the Rideau Canal, featuring the world’s longest skating rink.” While this might have been forgivable, MNET’s ‘About Us’ section emphasized their mission to help people “decode the messages that inform, entertain, and sell to us daily,” seemingly oblivious to their own misleading imagery. MNET later clarified that the issue wasn’t using a fake photo but presenting it as an authentic Ottawa scene. The organization now uses the incident as a “teaching moment” and likely chuckles about it. [Source]
5. Iberto Saiz
In 2009, Iberto Saiz, head of Spain’s National Intelligence Center, faced allegations of funding lavish fishing trips with public money. The issue? He was indeed using taxpayer funds for these excursions. In a misguided attempt to refute the claims, Saiz instructed his team to alter a photo to suggest he wasn’t on the trips. The resulting image was so poorly manipulated that it became laughably obvious.
Saiz is shown in the center, holding a fish, necessitating the concealment of his identity. The solution? Replace his head with that of another agent in the same photo. The result was a laughable attempt at exoneration, showing the same individual twice in one image. Unsurprisingly, the forgery was easily debunked, leading to Saiz’s dismissal. [Source]
4. A Missile Too Many
In July 2008, Iran’s missile test aimed to showcase its military strength but instead sparked global controversy. A widely circulated image of four missiles launching was exposed as a fake, with telltale signs of cloning and manipulated smoke. Despite the Adnan Hajj scandal just two years prior, major outlets like the Los Angeles Times, Financial Times, and Chicago Tribune, along with BBC News, MSNBC, Yahoo! News, and NYTimes.com, published the image before retracting it. [Source]
3. Lee Harvey Oswald
In February 1964, LIFE Magazine and the Detroit Free Press competed to publish the first image of Lee Harvey Oswald holding a rifle potentially linked to the assassination. The infamous “backyard photo” appeared in both publications, but with discrepancies: the Free Press version was brighter and lacked a rifle scope, while LIFE’s was darker and included the scope. These inconsistencies fueled suspicions of forgery, with Oswald claiming his head was superimposed onto another’s body. Adding to the confusion, his wife Marie insisted she took the photo in spring 1963.
Gene Roberts, a journalist at the Free Press during that time, admitted that the rush to outpace LIFE led to alterations in the Oswald photo. Roberts explained to The Education Forum’s Adam Wilkinson, “We wanted to beat them (LIFE) to the punch.” He revealed, “In the haste to publish, an airbrusher used liquid chalk to obscure the sniper scope.” This practice, though unconventional, was an accepted method at the time to enhance contrast in print. [Source]
2. La Prensa
Honduran newspaper La Prensa faced accusations of downplaying political violence during anti-coup protests on July 6, 2009. The controversial photo depicted Isis Obed Murillo (deceased) being carried by friends after being shot in Tegucigalpa. Known for its pro-coup stance, La Prensa allegedly airbrushed Murillo’s injuries from the image. The newspaper attributed the alterations to unspecified “processing errors,” but critics like Matthew Dubuque dismissed this explanation, questioning how such errors could selectively remove bloodstains while leaving the rest of the photo untouched. [Source]
1. Charles Johnson
Charles Johnson, the founder of Little Green Footballs, gained fame for exposing the fabricated National Guard memos that led to Dan Rather’s downfall at CBS and debunking the Adnan Hajj photos, coining the term “fauxtography.” His website has been instrumental in uncovering staged propaganda masquerading as photojournalism in conflict-ridden regions like the Middle East.
Recently, Johnson shifted his political stance from center-right to left, citing concerns over his peers aligning with bigoted groups in opposition to militant Islam. The irony peaked when Little Green Footballs published a photo of Vlaams Belang’s Filip Dewinter and Pro-Köln’s Markus Beisicht at what appeared to be a neo-Nazi rally. However, the banners in the image belonged to Antifa, a violent leftist group.
The master had been deceived. The authentic image was captured on the rooftop of the Flemish Parliament in Brussels. Johnson now asserts he cannot distinguish the original photo and insists its authenticity is irrelevant. This stance echoes the “fake but accurate” defense Dan Rather employed to justify the fabricated National Guard memos. [Source]
