Kabul, Afghanistan. February 6, 2024. Mannequins covered in plastic reflect the ban on showing any representation of women in public. From No Woman’s Land © Kiana Hayeri for Fondation Carmignac
Lines of Engagement, How Technology, Ethics and Trust Shape Photojournalism Today provided an urgent insight into the contemporary construction of visual narratives, hosted at the London College of Communication but open to all in person and online
How are technology, ethics and trust shaping photojournalism today? It’s a big question but, amid rising conflict and authoritarianism, one crucial for both image-makers and audiences. So London College of Communication is to be commended for its conference, Lines of Engagement, which posed and explored this question over the 18th and 19th September with image-makers, researchers, picture editors and lawyers. Offering accessible, at times alarming, insights into the construction of visual narratives, the event was open to all, in-person and online, and affordably priced; videos of the talks and discussions are now available online, and LCC plans to publish a book.
The fast-evolving technology behind image-making and distribution flickered through many of the sessions, with AI the most obvious contemporary challenge to photography’s (apparent) ability to document and evidence. Celebrated writer, curator, and educator Fred Ritchin made a bleak presentation of AI-generated images in the panel AI: Visibility and Trust, for example, showing personal experiments that suggested Philip K Dick’s sci-fi alternative realities via images of Nazi victory celebrations and well-fed concentration camp survivors. “I’m not seeing the photographic community responding [to AI],” Ritchin warned, urging image-makers to take positive action such as signing up to ethical codes, adding backstories, and publishing further contextual photographs. “We can’t wait for the institutions to do the right thing.”
Jennifer Kanis, a Principal Lawyer at Australian law firm Maurice Blackburn Lawyers, suggested a positive use of generative images in the same session though, showcasing Exhibit Ai: The Refugee Account. Developed by Maurice Blackburn with individuals formerly held in Australia’s Manus Island, Christmas Island, and Nauru refugee camps, this project depicts scenes of violence and neglect which would otherwise go unseen by outsiders. Detainees and journalists are not allowed cameras in the camps (though those in charge use surveillance and body cams). Images from Exhibit Ai were also on show in an exhibition accompanying the conference, which featured work by the speakers and more.
“I talk about facts and not the truth, the truth is an aspirational ideal“
– Anna Skurczynska
The Australian project’s sense of veracity prompted one audience member to ask why AI had been chosen for this project in the Q&A, rather than illustration or some other media. The eyewitnesses themselves had requested it, said Kanis; her presentation had included their heart-felt messages of thanks. Elsewhere on the same panel, Anna Skurczynska, a solicitor and LCC lecturer in media ethics and law, outlined the hoops through which photographs have to go if used as evidence in court, however, musing of Exhibit Ai that; “I think a court would struggle with the emotional impact that the images will have… that it would contaminate objectivity.”
Skurczynska stated that English law works in degrees of probability when analysing information, seeking to prove “beyond reasonable doubt” rather than establish 100% certainty. Walking the audience through images associated with the Charlie Kirk shooting, her presentation highlighted just how hard it is to go from images to knowledge – and just how many assumptions we might usually make about what they show of the world. “I talk about facts and not the truth, the truth is an aspirational ideal,” she said.
The idea of degrees of probability recurred in other panels, as did the difference between making narratives that move audiences, and building convincing cases. Kiana Hayeri won the 2024 Carmignac Photojournalism Prize for a project on women’s lives in Afghanistan, for example, created with Melissa Cornet, a researcher and human rights lawyer who has worked in Afghanistan for nearly a decade. But while much of Hayeri’s work is documentary, she and Cornet also collaborated on staged images with a group of young Afghan women, helping picture their aspirations and dreams. Hayeri and Cornet are now publishing this work as a book, No Woman’s Land, including images by Hayeri and texts, drawing and polaroids by Cornet. A joint publication between the duo and Raya Editorial, it will be launched at Paris Photo.
Julia Kochetova gave her very personal account of war in Ukraine, meanwhile, arguing against statistics and traditional war photography in favour of something more involving. “War is an immersive experience, you need to feel it; journalism is not enough any more,” she said, later adding: “It’s not enough to see the work, if you have an image you can always look somewhere else. You really need to look, see, hear, smell, touch; you need to feel to remember.” Yiel Lual Awat and Sahat Zia Hero, who creates Rohingyatographer Magazine, also advocated for insider-perspectives in their presentations, emphasising the importance of their lived experience of refugee camps in Kenya and Bangladesh.
And Sarah Eckinger, a photo editor on the international desk at The New York Times, ventured into similar territory in a panel on The Attention Economy. Aware that social media users are drawn to the (apparent) authenticity of first-person narratives, NYT has been encouraging its photographers to include themselves, she said, referencing a report by Saher Alghorra published online on 25 March. It started: “I am a photographer from Gaza City, and I have been documenting the aftermath of the cease-fire between Israel and Hamas. Many of the buildings in my city were destroyed.” Eckinger also presented a story which featured the image-maker on-camera, describing it as part of NYT’s ongoing effort to “break that fourth wall a little bit”.
Jo Webster, Global Managing Editor for Visuals at Reuters, gave insights into the organisation’s work, meanwhile, including a first-person account from Reuters staff photographer Hannah Mackay on making images in a press scrum; Webster also emphasised the importance of fact-checking and independence though, of serving as “a lens on reality”. Webster’s presentation included the jaw-dropping fact that Reuters had to kill a widely-disseminated image of Catherine Princess of Wales and children, after identifying signs of digital manipulation in it. The image had been issued by Kensington Palace, she said, and Reuters subsequently tightened procedures around third-party material.
Webster added that Reuters will never create or publish images made with AI, but said the organisation already uses AI for everyday tasks such as transcribing interviews and keywording. It has also experimented with using AI to identify people – though it has “yet to be satisfied with facial recognition”. As with Kanis’ presentation, it was a member of the audience who picked up a key point in the Q&A, asking if Reuters could therefore potentially identify anyone. Webster said it had tested with better-known individuals, and her presentation had emphasised its role in “holding power to account”. But with some 2600 journalists across 165 countries, the potential of the technology and the network is sobering.
Elsewhere were other presentations on information and how we gather, interpret, and disseminate it, including insights into alternative imaging from Giles Price and Forensic Architecture, and on using open-source data from Crofton Black, all of whom featured in BJP’s September issue. As Daniel Alexander, Director of LCC’s Photography Programme, stated in his introduction, there is sometimes a gap between theory and what is happening in the photography industry; this event fostered dialogue between theory and practice, and also with audiences who so urgently need to interrogate what they see.
Lines of Engagement, How Technology, Ethics and Trust Shape Photojournalism Today was organised by Alexia Singh, Daniel Alexander and Vicki Thornton, and hosted by the Photography Programme at London College of Communication. The accompanying exhibition, Lines of Engagement, was curated by Daniel Alexander with curatorial support from Alexia Singh. For more information, and to access recordings of the talks and discussions, visit www.linesofengagement.net