2017 World Press Photo Awards Fake News

Ramin Talaie

All visuals. Stills & Motion. Adjunct @columbiajourn, Alum @CarterFellows, Alum @RiscTraining. EverydayMigration: @EDMigration - www.RaminTalaie.com

Editor of EverydayMigration

This year the jury of the World Press Photo (WPP) awarded Iranian photographer, Hossein Fatemi, the second place for his long-term project titled ‘An Iranian Journey.’ Many who have directly interacted with Fatemi in Iran, Afghanistan, and other places consider his conduct unethical and ridicule his work as staged photojournalism.

After Fatemi received the 73rd POYi World Understanding Award, for the same photo essay, my inbox and Facebook Messenger was flooded with individuals claiming to have helped or witnessed Fatemi stage his subjects for this project. Others claim Fatemi had plagiarized their work and in some cases even copied images frame by frame. Over the following months I began compiling testimony and evidence and started verifying sources, locations, website and other information.

When the 2017 WPP award winners were announced, I felt obligated to share my findings with WPP and it’s jury. The next day I provided the following detailed evidence with names and contact information of every single source. I requested an investigation and asked that this award to be revoked.

In response WPP commissioned Santiago Lyon, former director of photography at The Associated Press, to conduct his own independent investigation on my reporting. Last week Lyon concluded his research and presented a summary of his findings to WPP. Yesterday I was informed by Lars Boering, managing director of WPP, that the jury had concluded its deliberations and “found that given the evidence presented there was not sufficient evidence to declare a clear breach of our contest entry rules.”

In recent years World Press Photo had to deal with less ambiguous, but publicly debated issues over pixel manipulation and extreme use of Photoshop. I imagined that deliberately manipulating subjects, captions, and creating scenes would have been a discernible case on breaching any ethical photojournalism guidelines.

In the current state of the world where journalism and photography is under constant attack and labels such as “fake news” and “alternative facts” are openly attributed for firsthand reporting, we must pay close attention to any individuals who produce fake and alternative facts. Fatemi’s manipulation of his subjects and their environment to suit his ambitions is even more dangerous as extreme use of Photoshop or altering the content of a digital file.

In 2014 WPP published a document, The Report on the Integrity of The Image, to define image manipulation as “changing something to suit one’s purpose or to gain advantage.” The concept of image manipulation is exactly what is alleged against Fatemi by many photographers, from inside and outside of Iran. Image manipulation is not only limited to moving pixels, but includes staging images for the purpose of a documentary photo essay.

Melissa Lyttle, NPPA president and POYi 72 judge discusses ethics in a Lens Blog interview and goes on to say “The fact that some photojournalists think any degree of lying and manipulation is O.K. makes me question the message they’re sending to others — as well as the ego they’re stroking.“ In the same blog Patrick Baz, 2015 World Press Photo jury and AFP Middle East chief photographer, voices his concern over photographers who manipulate their work in order to win awards or to get published. Baz continues; “I feel sad that our profession has been tainted by award hunters who use lies to get recognition, but in reality are jeopardizing the essence of photojournalism.”

Fatemi is just that, an “award hunter,” and this important award by World Press Photo jeopardizes everything that the photo community and journalism stands for.

Further Fatemi’s success and relationship with his agency, Panos Pictures, should also be examined. Fatemi has successfully laundered his reputation and work through Panos. This project has been widely published and exhibited. Over the years dozens of grievances have been filed against Fatemi with Panos, including one from myself and one from one of his female subjects below. To this day all such complaints have been set aside or labeled as envoy while the agency continues to sell his work.

Below, I present to you the same evidence that I presented to World Press Photo to create an open discussion on the facts surrounding Fatemi’s work and the conclusion of World Press Photo decision.

I strongly believe that the integrity of photojournalism, truth, and facts are at stake here. I wonder about the message this work and the World Press Photo decision is sending to Iranian photographers and journalists.

contd  with pics etc 

https://medium.com/@RaminTalaie/2017-world-press-photo-awards-fake-news-3a807abd4f1f#.8a32jvxle