Some quotes:
"Some of the most shocking or memorable photos from the Iraq war were almost certainly taken by soldiers or government contractors — and zipped around the world with an ease that never existed in the days of film.
" 'With the technology now, the amateur photographer is as capable as a professional journalist and is operating with the same tools: Digital camera, laptop and an Internet connection' said Keith W. Jenkins, photo editor of the Washington Post Magazine.
" 'The embedded process was supposed to give government a better handle on what journalists were doing, but now you have this whole rogue operation of civilians with digital cameras who have access to things the media don’t.' "
In other words, anyone who wants to be a whistle-blower now doesn't have to bother reporting to superiors or even to "professional journalists." Just snap some photos and launch them on the winds of the Web.
OTOH, the existence of Photoshop means that anyone who wants to launch fake photos can do it too -- a number of cases of this have already occurred, of course, including the famous one of Kerry at the Vietnam demo with Jane Fonda.
What a wonderful new age!
Jon Johanning // jjohanning at igc.org __________________________________ After the Buddha died, people still kept pointing to his shadow in a cave for centuries—an enormous, dreadful shadow. God is dead: but the way people are, there may be, for millennia, caves in which his shadow is still pointed to. — And we — we must still overcome his shadow! —Friedrich Nietzsche