…and anyone who admits to using that network for news should be ashamed of themselves, as well as ignored when they opine on political issues.
Just when I think the news media cannot get more biased, unprofessional and dishonest, something like this happens…usually on CNN, MSNBC, or in the New York Times.
MS NOW used an AI-enhanced image of Alex Pretti, the anti-I.C.E. activist who was killed by a U.S. Border Patrol agent during an immigration enforcement operation. Naturally, the faked photo made him look better than he really did, a public opinion manipulation tactic as old as photography and unethical to its core. This is cheap Cognitive Dissonance Scale game-playing, because “lookism” is embedded in our DNA. A nicer-looking figure is more likely to land in positive territory on the scale than a fat troll: remember how much sympathy there was online and in the media for the handsome young terrorist who maimed all those innocent people in the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing? The alteration of Pretti’s image was subtle, but the point is why do it at all? Anything to make attacking Trump and supporting open borders more persuasive, I suppose.
Ethics Alarms 
“A photo altered to build sympathy, however, is deliberate misinformation.”
In those halcyon days of yore, when news outlets wouldn’t/couldn’t use altered images, they simply hit the Way Back Machine button, like they did with George Zimmerman and Trayvon Martin in 2012.
White Hispanic Zimmerman’s photo du jour was a 2005 booking mug shot: “(H)e was 22 in the photo, which was taken after he was arrested for assaulting an officer. (The charges were dropped.) He looks unhappy, if not angry.” He was also Orange Jumpsuit clad and 60 pounds heavier.
Martin? Was it the current angry, tatted, gold-toothed, purple drank swilling, thug wannabee flipping off the camera?
Not exactly; “(t)he dominant photo of Martin shows him 13 or 14 years old, wearing a red Hollister T-shirt. Other photos, NONE OF THEM RECENT, depict a young Martin in a youth football uniform, holding a baby and posing with a snowboard. HE IS THE PICTURE OF INNOCENCE. (bolds/caps/italics mine)
What might the parable of “The Dishonest Waiter” suggest?
PWS
A better contrast. From the Snopes article. I’m not exactly what the green and red emblems are supposed to indicate, but the image on the right is the enhanced image. His face is more ovoid and broader, his smile is more handsome, his shoulders are broader and (not shown here) he’s been given larger biceps! N.B. The Snopes article says MS NOW says they didn’t manipulate the photo; they simply used a manipulated photo they got off the internet. Is that excuse more or less damning?
Yes, this is manipulation, just like the White House’s altered photo of Nakima Levy Armstrong to make her appear disheveled and weeping after her arrest at the church in St. Paul, MN. A much more radical alteration, in my opinion. I am NOT defending the protest at the church. I am pointing out that it is done by both sides and it needs to be acknowledged.
Jeez. I try to take an early and well-deserved break, and then I’m drawn right back in.
If we can separate the image from the narration — okay — no ‘if’ here. I (an experienced photoshop user) can see the image without hearing the talking head. The altered photo is the original slightly darkened and stretched a bit wider. Done just to make Pretti look prettier or for some other innocent reason? Who knows?
Should we trust the explanation from MSNBC? To ask that question of a biased medium is a waste of time. My answer (also experienced in journalism) is a resounding “No!”
Fortunately for me, I grew up in the Groucho era, before influencers gained mind control, when we all knew the correct answer to, “Who do you trust?” was nobody, not even our own lying eyes.
“Jeez. I try to take an early and well-deserved break, and then I’m drawn right back in.”
PWS
Hah! This site is like a drug, friend!
Nah. With drugs, you can quit any time you want to.
This comment is so diabolically clever that I can’t even begin to process it. Bravo.