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In May
1999 Joseph Lelyveld, executive editor at the New York Times, announced
new image guidelines for the paper. Any adjustments made to the
pictures must be similar to those that were possible in the pre-digital
era like burning and dodging, which lighten and darken sections
of a photo, the policy states. In cases where the paper creates
a collage or montage of images the effect must be "unmistakable
to the reader."
In addition
the Times’ computers have pre-set calibration for a picture’s color
and clarity on the page to make images look their best in newsprint.
Unintentionally, the set tone and color values prevent an editor
or photographer from making too many changes. "There’s no eyeballing
it, really," O’Connor says.
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| Bush's
head is oversized to indicate the photo is not real. |
Stephen Braswell,
photo administrator at Newsweek magazine, says images are dealt
with on a case by case basis, but in general news photographs remain
unaltered and illustrations must be obvious. On the cover of the
Feb. 19 issue, George Bush's head appeared too large for his body
to help mark that the image was created and not an actual photo.
"If the head and body were proportionate, it could have been
libelous," Braswell says.
At Time
magazine designers know they must go to higher-ups before they touch
a thing. "We start with real photos and if there is
a real reason [to alter it] it must get ok’d by the senior editor
before we send it to the art department to get altered," Roberts
says.
And after the
handshake debacle, the Daily News has become much more sensitive.
"We do not alter news photographs," Ruis says. The tabloid
has also increased the size of its photo bylines at the bottom of
images to avoid confusion.
Even
the courts have become involved. In 1995 the Massachusetts Supreme
Court ruled that doctored photos are not protected under the First
Amendment, after a woman sued a local political opponent who superimposed
her face on pornographic photos.
To beginning of story
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An
excerpt from the New York Times' photo policy:
"Images
in our pages that purport to depict reality must be genuine
in every way. No people or objects may be added, rearranged,
reversed, distorted or removed from a scene (except for the
recognized practice of cropping to omit extraneous outer portions).
Adjustments of color or gray scale should be limited to those
minimally necessary for clear and accurate reproduction, analogous
to the "burning" and "dodging" that
formerly took place in darkroom processing of images.
Pictures of news situations must not be posed. In the cases
of collages, montages, portraits, fashion or home design illustrations,
fanciful contrived situations and demonstrations of how a
device is used, our intervention should be unmistakable to
the reader, and unmistakably free of intent to deceive.
Captions and credits should
further acknowledge our intervention if the slightest doubt
is possible. The design director, a masthead editor or the
news desk should be consulted on doubtful cases or proposals
for exceptions."
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