Brian Walski

Last updated
Brian Walski
Born1958 (age 60–61)
Illinois, United States
Occupation Photojournalism
Notable credit(s)
Won the California Press Photographers Association's 2001 Photographer of the Year

Brian Walski is a professional photographer who was accused in 2003 of altering a news photograph, which he later admitted to. Until the incident, he was a staff photographer at the Los Angeles Times . [1] [2] Previously, he had won the California Press Photographers Association's 2001 Photographer of the Year. [3]

Photographer Person who makes photographs

A photographer is a person who makes photographs.

Photo manipulation Alteration of a picture by physical or digital means

Photo manipulation involves transforming or altering a photograph using various methods and techniques to achieve desired results. Some photo manipulations are considered skillful artwork while others are frowned upon as unethical practices, especially when used to deceive the public. Other examples include being used for political propaganda, or to make a product or person look better, or simply for entertainment purposes or harmless pranks.

<i>Los Angeles Times</i> Daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California

The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper which has been published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It has the fourth largest circulation among United States newspapers, and is the largest U.S. newspaper not headquartered on the East Coast. The paper is known for its coverage of issues particularly salient to the U.S. West Coast, such as immigration trends and natural disasters. It has won more than 40 Pulitzer Prizes for its coverage of these and other issues. As of June 18, 2018, ownership of the paper is controlled by Patrick Soon-Shiong, and the executive editor is Norman Pearlstine.

Contents

Biography

Walski was born in Illinois and grew up in Chicago. He studied journalism at Northern Illinois University. [4] He has worked as a photographer since 1980 starting his career at the Albuquerque Journal , [4] Patriot-Ledger in Quincy, MA, and the Boston Herald . He spent 12 years on staff at the Herald [4] until he joined the Los Angeles Times in September 1998. [5] During his career as a photojournalist, he covered stories ranging from local news to the Gulf War, the Africa famine, Northern Ireland, the Kashmiri conflict and the crisis in the Balkans. [4]

Northern Illinois University University in Illinois

Northern Illinois University (NIU) is a public research university in DeKalb, Illinois. It was founded as Northern Illinois State Normal School on May 22, 1895, by Illinois Governor John P. Altgeld as part of an expansion of the state's system for producing college-educated teachers. In addition to the main campus in DeKalb, it has satellite centers in Chicago, Hoffman Estates, Naperville, Rockford, and Oregon

<i>Albuquerque Journal</i> daily newspaper in Albuquerque, New Mexico

The Albuquerque Journal is the largest newspaper in the U.S. state of New Mexico.

Quincy, Massachusetts City in Massachusetts, United States

Quincy is the largest city in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. It is part of Metropolitan Boston and one of Boston's immediate southern suburbs. Its population in 2010 was 92,271, making it the eighth-largest city in the state. Known as the "City of Presidents," Quincy is the birthplace of two U.S. presidents—John Adams and his son John Quincy Adams—as well as John Hancock, a President of the Continental Congress and the first signer of the Declaration of Independence, as well as being the 1st and 3rd Governor of Massachusetts.

Iraq photo controversy

On March 30, 2003 Walski was on assignment for the Los Angeles Times, covering the 2003 Invasion of Iraq near Basra. He took a series of photographs that day of British soldiers telling Iraqi civilians to take cover. [6] [7] When he later viewed them, he decided to use his computer to combine two of the images that had been taken a few seconds apart into a single image with better overall composition. [8] [9] He then sent the pictures to Los Angeles Times staff who posted them on the internal photo sharing system for various media outlets owned by the Tribune News Corporation. [10]

Basra City in Basra Governorate, Iraq

Basra is an Iraqi city located on the Shatt al-Arab. It had an estimated population of 2.5 million in 2012. Basra is also Iraq's main port, although it does not have deep water access, which is handled at the port of Umm Qasr.

On March 31, media across the country ran the image, including the Los Angeles Times on the front page, [11] [12] the Hartford Courant , owned by the Tribune Corporation, [13] and the Chicago Tribune , which printed it on a jump page. [14]

<i>Hartford Courant</i> Connecticut newspaper

The Hartford Courant is the largest daily newspaper in the U.S. state of Connecticut, and is often recognized as the oldest continuously published newspaper in the United States. A morning newspaper serving most of the state north of New Haven and east of Waterbury, its headquarters on Broad Street are a short walk from the state capitol. It reports regional news with a chain of bureaus in smaller cities and a series of local editions. It also operates CTNow, a free local weekly newspaper and website.

<i>Chicago Tribune</i> Major daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States

The Chicago Tribune is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper", it remains the most-read daily newspaper of the Chicago metropolitan area and the Great Lakes region. It had the 6th highest circulation for American newspapers in 2017.

It was at the Courant, on whose front page the image was published six columns wide, that inconsistencies in the image were noticed. [15] The Courant's assistant managing editor Thom McGuire confirmed that the image was altered, and then contacted Colin Crawford, Los Angeles Times Director of Photography. [16]

It took Crawford several days to get hold of Walski who was still in battle conditions covering the war. When confronted with the image Crawford said, "Give me an excuse. Tell me it was a satellite transmission problem. Say something." to which Walski replied, "No, I did it. I combined the two pictures." [17]

As a result of manipulating the photograph, Walski was fired from the Los Angeles Times via satellite phone on April 1, 2003. [18] [19] [20] The Los Angeles Times ran an immediate retraction, and on April 2 it ran a front-page article explaining Walski's faked image, illustrated by the two source images and the manipulated image. [14] [21] [22] The Hartford Courant and the Chicago Tribune also ran retractions. [14]

Since the Iraq War

In 2005 Walski relocated to Colorado and founded Colorado Visions Photography, a commercial and wedding photography business. [23] [24]

See also

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References

  1. ↑ "Camera Works: Photo Essay (washingtonpost.com)". www.washingtonpost.com.
  2. ↑ Matthew S. McGlone; Mark L. Knapp (15 March 2009). The Interplay of Truth and Deception: New Agendas in Theory and Research. Routledge. ISBN   978-1-135-84449-3.
  3. ↑ John V. Pavlik (13 April 2012). Media in the Digital Age. Columbia University Press. pp. 21–. ISBN   978-0-231-51213-8.
  4. 1 2 3 4 Roberto Koch, ed. (2009). Photo Box: Bringing the Great Photographers Into Focus. London: Thames & Hudson. p. 480.
  5. ↑ Donald Matheson; Stuart Allan (30 August 2013). Digital War Reporting. John Wiley & Sons. pp. 117–. ISBN   978-0-7456-3950-5.
  6. ↑ American Journalism Review: AJR. College of Journalism of the University of Maryland at College Park. March 2003.
  7. ↑ Dominic McIver Lopes (5 January 2016). Four Arts of Photography: An Essay in Philosophy. Wiley. pp. 110–. ISBN   978-1-119-05307-1.
  8. ↑ Scot Macdonald (5 December 2006). Propaganda and Information Warfare in the Twenty-First Century: Altered Images and Deception Operations. Routledge. pp. 32–. ISBN   978-1-135-98351-2.
  9. ↑ Patrick Lee Plaisance (2009). Media Ethics: Key Principles for Responsible Practice. SAGE. pp. 23–. ISBN   978-1-4129-5685-7.
  10. ↑ News Photographer. National Press Photographers Association. 2006.
  11. ↑ Flavia Padovani; Alan Richardson; Jonathan Y. Tsou (23 March 2015). Objectivity in Science: New Perspectives from Science and Technology Studies. Springer. pp. 72–. ISBN   978-3-319-14349-1.
  12. ↑ New Scientist. IPC Magazines. 2003.
  13. ↑ Laura J. Shepherd; Caitlin Hamilton (20 May 2016). Understanding Popular Culture and World Politics in the Digital Age. Routledge. pp. 71–. ISBN   978-1-317-37602-6.
  14. 1 2 3 "American Journalism Review". ajrarchive.org.
  15. ↑ Claude Hubert Cookman (2009). American Photojournalism: Motivations and Meanings. Northwestern University Press. pp. 252–. ISBN   978-0-8101-2358-8.
  16. ↑ Gene Foreman (13 September 2011). The Ethical Journalist: Making Responsible Decisions in the Pursuit of News. John Wiley & Sons. pp. 2–. ISBN   978-1-4443-5964-0.
  17. ↑ David Walker (2003-05-07). "Brian Walski Discusses His Doctored Photo". pdnonline. Archived from the original on 2010-11-04. Retrieved 2018-04-06.
  18. ↑ "Editor's Note". 2 April 2003 – via LA Times.
  19. ↑ Campbell, Duncan (3 April 2003). "US war photographer sacked for altering image of British soldier". the Guardian.
  20. ↑ Joan Gorham (9 February 2009). Annual Editions: Mass Media 09/10. McGraw-Hill Companies,Incorporated. ISBN   978-0-07-812776-2.
  21. ↑ "elmundo.es - 'Los Angeles Times' despide a un fotógrafo por manipular una imagen para añadirle dramatismo". www.elmundo.es.
  22. ↑ Frank, Russell (7 April 2003). "Altered Photos Break Public's Trust in Media" – via LA Times.
  23. ↑ "Links> Contributors". foto8.com. 2001. Archived from the original on 2008-07-05. Retrieved 2007-10-01.
  24. ↑ ColoradoVisions.com
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