fauxtography

Fauxtography is the practice of staging, mislabeling, cropping or otherwise altering a photograph in order to present a false picture of reality. Image-editing software such as Photoshop has made the digital modification of photographs particularly widespread.

Fauxtography refers specifically to the use of misleading photographs in journalism.

The term (coined by the combination of faux + photography) originated in the blogosphere, notably in the blog Little Green Footballs, which uncovered the use of fauxtography by a Reuters freelance photographer in the 2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict photographs controversies.

Last updated: September 20, 2006.

A picture is said to be worth a thousand words, but what if those words are lies? A recent OpinionJournal.com column noted that news consumers still believe strongly in the photographs they are shown, but perhaps they shouldn't:

"Despite the shame visited this summer upon certain photojournalists for their 'fauxtography' in Lebanon--darkening skies, adding smoke and fire to scenes of battle--evidence produced by cameras has never been so prevalent or taken for granted."

Link: OpinionJournal - Looking Through a Lens

Posted September 20, 2006.

See our Word Overheard blog to see interesting uses of strange words.