A peace sign from Martin Luther King, Jr, becomes a rude gesture; dolphins in Venice’s Grand Canal — manipulated or mis-used images posted as truth. Researchers say image editing software is so common and easy to use, it has the power to re-imagine history. Even the White House is doing it and deadline-driven journalists lack the tools to tell the difference, especially when images come from social media.

Image editing software is so ubiquitous and easy to use, according to researchers from QUT’s Digital Media Research Centre, it has the power to re-imagine history.

And, they say, deadline-driven journalists lack the tools to tell the difference, especially when the images come through from social media.

Their study, Visual mis/disinformation in journalism and public communications, has been published in Journalism Practice. It was driven by the increased prevalence of fake news and how social media platforms and news organisations are struggling to identify and combat visual mis/disinformation presented to their audiences.

«When Donald Trump’s staff posted an image to his official Facebook page in 2019, journalists were able to spot the photoshopped edits to the president’s skin and physique because an unedited version exists on the White House’s official Flickr feed,» said lead author Dr T.J. Thomson.

«But what about when unedited versions aren’t available online and journalists can’t rely on simple reverse-image searches to verify whether an image is real or has been manipulated?

Story Source: Materials provided by Queensland University of Technology. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.