Making sure that what you see is what's there

Separating truth from fiction, particularly in pictures, has become a vexing question for publishers and news organizations like Reuters. You'll recall that a while back Reuters fired a news photographer who 'enhanced' some pictures digitally by adding extra plumes of smoke or trails of rocket fire to make his pictures more compelling.

Tom Glocer, the chief executive officer of Reuters, made a speech this week to the Globes Media Conference in Tel Aviv and revealed that, working with Adobe and Canon, they are close to unveiling a new technology that will allow photo editors to follow an audit trail of changes to a digital image, embedding the information in the photo itself. He said the new technical standard may become the industry standard.

Part of Glocer's speech concerned the proliferation of voices, particularly in the blogosphere, much if not most of it without any accountability or transparency. The so-called "two-way pipe" has resulted in a world where readers, viewers and listeners are participants, distributors and creators. News media organizations can be excited about the possibilities this holds out (Glocer gave the example of a bunch of nuns, blogging from their convent) but they shouldn't lose sight of their continuing responsibilities to tell the truth, he said.

"...in the excitement and enthusiasm of this new collaboration we mustn’t forget the value of trust. We mustn’t forget that our actions and ideas must remain guided by impartial accurate information.

"The real opportunity – besides more voices – is that in a world of multiple choices, brands become billboards guaranteeing an experience. If your brand stands for accuracy, for truthfulness, for trust, you become a beacon – a trusted source – a hub in a plural media universe.

"Trust is what draws our audiences to our brand. Trust and professionalism is what makes our product cut through the clutter."