#photo-manipulation

#photo-manipulation

A short while later, the White House posted the same photo - except that version had been digitally altered to darken Armstrong's skin and rearrange her facial features to make it appear she was sobbing or distraught. The Guardian one of many media outlets to report on this image manipulation, created a handy slider graphic to help viewers see clearly how the photo had been changed.

"I'm asking you to please treat me with dignity and respect," she said to the agents. "We have to put you in handcuffs," one agent said, while another held up a phone and appeared to record a video. "Why are you recording?" Levy Armstrong asked. "I would ask that you not record." "It's not going to be on Twitter," the agent filming said. "It's not going to be on anything like that." "We don't want to create a false narrative," the agent said.

I'm old enough to remember when it was frowned upon-even considered very bad-for the White House to photoshop anything or digitally alter photos for the public record. On Thursday, the official White House social media accounts posted a digitally altered photo of an arrested protester to make it look like she was crying. About thirty minutes earlier, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem posted what seems to be the original image of the arrest-in which the woman appears completely composed.

Even in an age of misinformation and disinformation - which we really need to start clearly calling propaganda - we continue to rely on old ways of knowing. We take it for granted that if we really need to get to the truth, there's a way to do it, even if it means cracking the pages of one of those ancient conveyors of wisdom, a book.

When then-President Bill Clinton and real estate mogul Donald Trump crossed paths at the 2000 U.S. Open in New York, White House photographer William Vasta snapped a picture as the men smiled widely side-by-side in a half embrace. He caught them in mid-motion, with Trump's right arm extended toward Clinton, as if he were coming in for a full hug or finishing a handshake.