In his commentary, Thomas Palmer, who teaches journalism at the University of Albany, Department of Communication, and who is my former student at Syracuse University — although he claims that the term former should not apply and that one always continues to be a student — states how a New York Times photo was used “as an accelerant to fan the flames of disinformation.”

I will let you read the article and, hopefully, react. But Thomas and his digital media student, Cara Cliffe, were able to set the record straight about the origin of this photo, including its true author — Stephen Crowley — who was unaware of its widespread abuse.

I believe that Thomas’ piece is both a wake up call and a scary reminder of what visuals can do to assist those who wish to misinform. A picture is worth a thousand words — as we have heard for decades. Well, in the era of fake news, a photo can also be more convincing of a lie than words alone could.

I praise the advocacy by Thomas and his students to expose the contextual misrepresentation of photojournalism, and hope that his commentary will be shared and circulated widely. In his own words:

“This simple signing photo of President Barack Obama by New York Times photographer Stephen Crowley in 2012 may have become one of the most exploited images for disinformation and other forms of social propaganda during the 2016 election season.”

“It is a shame that Crowley, a 2002 Pulitzer winner with the New York Times staff for Feature Photography, sees his work trafficked this way. Now, it is imperative for news organizations to vigorously protect the essence of photojournalism.”

Of related interest

http://www.pulitzer.org/winners/staff-54

Society of News Design New York: Celebrating 40 years

The Society for News Design’s 40th Anniversary Workshop, Creative Conference and Awards Gala will be in New York City, March 22–24.

Workshop chair Tyson Evans, of The New York Times, and an army of volunteers are organizing three packed days of talks, training, networking and inspiration about the future (and past) of storytelling, visual journalism and news products across print and digital.

Speakers announced so far include Scott Stowell, proprietor of Open and winner of the National Design Award for Communication Design; Jennifer Daniel, of Google; John Maeda, of Automattic and visual journalists from The New York Times, Washington Post, Axios, Vice, ProPublica and more.

I am honored to be one of the speakers.

If you would like to attend what promises to be one of the best SND gatherings ever, please go here for more information:

https://nyc.snd.org