Fake photography – an inquiry to photographic truth, disinformation, and critical visual media literacy

Abstract

This thesis explores how a Magnum photographer decided to produce a fake documentary photobook project and published it with the intention of warning his surroundings about technology that is inflicting significant change to society on several levels, especially related to our belief in institutions such as democracy. Upon publication the author also submitted his project to "Visa Pour l'image", an international photojournalism’s festival and by many considered the main annual documentary event in France. The fake documentary was not revealed, thus his message and warning was not received by the audience as he intended. On the contrary the project was regarded an important revelation and a true documentary about an important subject. The author, who found himself entangled in somewhat a bind, went on a circumstantial journey on social media in order to reveal himself and the truth about his fake project. My angle on reflection upon this peculiar case will be revealed through the hermeneutic circle lingering upon the questions of how and why this documentary was produced, what the author really is trying to say through his book, and how this new technology he is warning us about might be affecting journalism and the consequence of vast disinformation on democracy. My inquiry will further discuss shortly how journalists and fact-checkers work with disinformation and what can be drawn out of their process in order to decide if society and new generations might need skills, such as more systematic and concrete knowledge on critical visual media literacy, to deal with the problem of disinformation in society. I will in my discussion on literacy point to several studies that indicate we overestimate our skill when it comes to verification of visual information.