gor[b] Paul Gorbould: Words and Pictures

Kyotoshopped

You may have heard about this little tempest that busted our collective teapot last week. CBC.ca used a photo of smoggy Toronto to run alongside a story about the Kyoto Protocol. An iffy selection, but then the image was put through a "warming filter" in Photoshop, giving it a "smoggier" look.

Avast! That's a no-no. Readers of the Small Dead Animals blog, which uncovered the altered image, took this as proof positive that everything CBC has reported on since 1936 is a fabrication, that global warming is a communist plot, and that al-Qaeda is being directed by the ghost of Barbara Frum.

CBC.ca has its own policy about when images can and can't be altered, and conceded a mistake had been made. I, however, have my own image policy for this blog: EVERYTHING MUST BE PHOTOSHOPPED. I have some photoshopping experience, and I think CBC.ca could take a lesson from my more liberal policy.

GRAPHICS ARE EASY

For instance, CBC claims that carbon dioxide and greenhouse gasses are difficult to photograph. Bah. I used to have CO2 for my BB gun - what's wrong with that?
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Don't like it? Well, how about an "artist's impression" of a CO2 molecule: 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
OK, so it looks a little cheery, not at all like the impending doom of our planet. But that's fixable, if you have a more liberal photo policy like I do.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
What about greenhouse gas? Well, I could have whipped this one up for them in a heartbeat:

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
But Paul, you say, isn't such flawless digital manipulation too difficult for harried newshounds? Not at all. Allow me a creative demonstration.

A greenhouse:

 
 
 
 
 
 

Kyle Gass:

 
 
 
 
 
 

Put 'em together, and you get...

 
 
 
 
 
 

Greenhouse Gass! That took all of two minutes. We should never have to look at a generic image of a former smokestack, or the environment minister of the minute, ever again.

Need an image for Kyoto? What's wrong with the city itself?

 
 
 
 
 
 

Now, I don't know what a "protocol" is, but how about a picture of Procol Harum?

 
 
 
 
 
 

Child's play. In fact, it's like those Rebus puzzles children enjoy so much. How's this for a fun, brain-developing news graphic?

 
 
 
 
 
 

Get it? Carb On Di Oxhide. Carbon Dioxide! Utter genius. And it beats the hell out of another John Baird headshot. What wouldn't?

DISCLAIMERS ARE EASY TOO

Of course, it has been suggested that manipulated images should have some sort of label or icon to inform the gullible. That was also suggested to me (see my response) and it's one of the reasons I started tagging my photo manipulations with my trademark (but not trademarked) [g] icon.

Good idea. So good, in fact, that I've already prepared a handful of useful icons that CBC.ca can use to indicate when images have been manipulated. Here's a sampling:

Image Has Been Cropped

 

Correct usage:

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

File Photo

 
 
 
Correct usage:

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Warming Filter Applied

 
 
 
Correct usage:

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

A Bit of a Stretch

 
 

Correct usage:

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Now, I'm not suggesting that CBC.ca is alone in its need for a more clear approach to identifying news graphics. Not at all!

Here are some graphics that may be of help to CBC's competitors:

 

Image contains cute animal to attract viewers

 
 

 

Image contains boobs to attract viewers

 
 

Image or story has been shovelled onto site from third-party supplier

 
 
 

 
Photo or story contains obvious bias

 
 
 

 

Photo or story contains unobvious bias

 
 

If successful, I can imagine rolling out these helpful pictograms to my blog as well. Stories and images for my posts might be branded like this:

 

Anecdote About My Kids

 
 

 

Another Story About Toilets

 
 

 

My Wife Would Not Approve

 
 

 

For God's Sake, Gorbould, Nobody Cares