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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Scenario, Cont.
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Figure 3: Photoshopped BP helicopter photo.
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Figure 4: Original BP helicopter photo.
The second photo in this case study seemed to have come under harsher criticism by bloggers and news outlets like the Washington Post, The Telegraph, NBC News, and CBS News. Unlike the photo of the control room, which was only criticized for careless cutting and pasting, this image of a helicopter flying over the Deepwater Horizon disaster site (Figure 3) has much more to offer in terms of mistakes in alteration. Brian Barrett (2010), this time writing for Jalopnik, uses the same technique (screenshots of the images) as he did previously in Gizmodo to point out major flaws in the alteration of BP’s second image. Barrett (2010) first points out what is either an air traffic control tower or part of an aircraft carrier in the top left corner of the photo, indicating that the helicopter was not in the air when the photo was taken (Jalopnik). Additionally, Barrett (2010) points out that the dashboard “readouts” indicate that the loading ramp and at least one door are open on the helicopter, the parking brake is engaged, and the pilot is holding a pre-flight checklist (Jalopnik). There are also noticeable differences in color between the altered photo and the original (Figure 4). In the altered photo, the colors are much brighter and, as Barrett (2010) points out, there is blurring and distortion in the center of the image where ships can be seen. Like the photo of the control room that was altered, this image of a helicopter was also added to BP’s official Flickr page, which no longer exists.
The media scandal that erupted in response to the altered images occurred just over a week after BP received some slightly positive press. According to Beard et al. (2010), a tighter cap on the wellhead on July 15 stopped the flow of oil into the Gulf of Mexico. The scandal also occurred just under a week before BP CEO Tony Hayward announced his resignation from the company. As the images surfaced and circulated in the height of the disaster’s media attention, they played a powerful role in what could have been BP’s big break, but ended up being one of their greatest errors in responding to the tragedy.
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