About the Author
Amber McDonnell is a second-year master's student in Auburn University's technical and professional communication program. Her principal academic interests are rhetoric and ethics in new media. Additionally, she teaches English composition as a graduate assistant and enjoys finding ways to incorporate new media in the classroom. When she isn't attending class or teaching, she enjoys taking photos, cooking, and playing with her rescue dog, Eddie.
Contents
Introduction
Methods
Scenario
Scenario (Cont.)
Analysis: Visual Rhetoric
Analysis: Ethical Scope
Analysis: Ethical Theories
Discussion
Conclusion
Works Cited
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The Scenario
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Figure 1: BP Photoshopped photo.
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Figure 2: BP original photo.
This study will analyze two of the doctored images. Perhaps the most infamous of the doctored photos (Figure 1) shows three men in a control room thought to be located in Houston, presumably working on the company’s strategy for cleanup and disaster relief. In order to review some of the discrepancies found concerning the photos, I will refer to Brian Barrett’s (2010) article in Gizmodo as the original AmericaBlog post has been removed. Barrett (2010) points out several main issues with the Photoshop manipulation of the image by using screenshot images with red circles drawn around major flaws, including the photo’s metadata, which indicates that it was taken in 2001 (Gizmodo). Additionally, when compared to the original photo that BP released in response to media backlash (Figure 2), photos from the disaster had been cut and pasted on top of empty screens. In addition to discrepancies in metadata and cutting and pasting, Barrett (2010) highlights odd white space surrounding all of the workers’ heads that is indicative of sloppy selection work in the Adobe Photoshop program (Gizmodo). When confronted with the evidence that the image had been doctored, a spokesman for the company informed the Washington Post that BP’s post-production team had been notified not to manipulate photos in the future (Rothman, 2010). After being criticized by the media, BP created an official Flickr page to display the original and edited photos, to demonstrate their openness and willingness to be honest with the public (Hough, 2010). The Flickr page has since been deleted.
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