Manipulated Content
In today’s world, false information is chipping away our trust in media, people and resources around us. As we spend much time in the online space, it is more important than ever to separate truth from fiction.
On the receiving end of this flood of information and material, we must all be even more cautious and alert than before – to avoid being victims of scams, misinformation, and even interference in our elections.
Overseas, there have been many examples of videos and photographs being doctored to influence politics. No sophisticated tools or techniques are necessary to create such deceptive content. Many would be familiar with these incidents:
1) Staged picture
Forget about zooming in, cropping certain details out or getting another perspective of an event – this widely spread picture was simply staged. Photographer Ruben Salvadori was in Palestina to cover conflicts between Israeli troops and Palestinians. One of the young Palestinians in the area agreed to take a photo, but Salvadori’s work was definitely misinterpreted by some media channels.
2) Oversaturation
When photos are taken with a professional camera and saved in a specific file format, it’s possible to greatly adjust certain values such as saturation and sharpness afterward. That has definitely been the case here with a photograph from Klavs Bo Christensen. The oversaturation leads to a much greater contrast and making the area look worse than it actually is.
3) No shoes, no socks
Sometimes, manipulation can be quite funny. This news anchor for a tv station, for example, decided to go sock- and shoeless for his presentation duties during a live broadcast. Anchors who wear shorts underneath the table are apparently quite common, but this man takes it one step further.
4) Playing around
It turns out that zooming in is one of the most manipulative practices to alter the perspective of a photograph. The picture above was widely shared and shows a solder and a frightening kid – but in reality, the child is only afraid that his buddy who’s playing with the soldier, will lose the game.
5) It’s the whole story that counts
Omitting certain details from a story a picture tells is a common manipulative practice. The first photo on the left was taken in Sauda Arabia and is completely staged. It went viral on the internet with people thinking that it waa s child ‘sleeping between her parents’, but that wasn’t the case.
6) Rescuing a piglet, or not?
This photograph of North-Korean soldiers who are rescuing a piglet through strong waters because of a flood doesn’t seem wrong at first, but there’s a picture that was spread across the internet that has been altered via Photoshop. A soldier who seems to be holding a rifle has been added to the picture after it was taken.
When it is hard to tell the truth, we are less able to make well-informed decision in many situations. Here are 4 SURE steps to help you discern information:
2) Source: On social media platforms, check the post’s origin and see if it is an authentic web source. Some fake news originate from dubious web sources that imitate official websites by adding in an extension to the web address.
3) Research: Go beyond the initial source. Do a quick search of any suspicious news you receive. Treat it with suspicion if there is lack of news coverage or evidence. Find at least two or more sources to confirm if the information is real. Use credible sources to find out if an article or message you received is authentic.
4) Evaluate: Look for a balance in all points of views (different perspectives) in the information you are reading. There are at least two sides to every story. Also consider if the headline, video or photo has been doctored or faked to fit a certain narrative.
Be SURE before you choose to believe, share or forward the information!
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ReplyDeleteNice blog✨✨
ReplyDeleteKeep it up👍