Misinformation

Visual information may include images (photographs, videos, films) and visual documents (maps, plans, charts, data visualizations). How viewers construct meaning from either images or visual documents can be defined as visual literacy, an essential skill as visual misinformation and disinformation is widespread. Images are approximately 40 percent of the posts on Facebook and as this recent study found, image-based misinformation is prevalent, particularly in the context of political misinformation. Visual information presents ethical and verification challenges unique to the medium and important in the context of the creation and circulation of misinformation.
 

Guides & Reports

• The National Press Photographers Association’s Code of Ethics is intended “to promote the highest quality in all forms of visual journalism and to strengthen public confidence in the profession [and] to serve as an educational tool both for those who practice and for those who appreciate photojournalism.” 
• The Online News Organization’s ethics guide to Photos and Video is part of the organization’s longer guide and addresses questions such as: “How might photographers affect the events they’re covering?; What should our rules be about manipulating photos after they’re taken?; How should we handle “handout” photos from governments and companies?”
• Visual Verification Tips from Witness.org is a downloadable infographic with guidelines about how to verify online images and videos.
• Creating a Verification Process and Checklist(s) from the Verification Handbook For Disinformation And Media Manipulation is a guide to image verification generally and user-generated content (UGC), centered around several different aspects of the process including provenance, source verification methods, and verification processes in breaking news and disaster reporting contexts.
• How to Verify Images from the Mobile Journalism Manual includes several online resources and tutorials that can aid in the verification of photographs and videos.
• Verifying User-Generated Content by Claire Wardle from Verification Handbook For Disinformation And Media Manipulation provides context about the rise of UGC and the verification process.
   

Articles & Book Chapters

• Visual health misinformation: A primer and research roundup
  This article from the Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics, and Public Policy includes a helpful explanation of visual misinformation as visual recontextualization, visual manipulation, and visual fabrication, categories outlined in Missing the Bigger Picture: The Need for More Research on Visual Health Misinformation (2022), a commentary referenced in the article.
• Exploring the Role of Visual Content in Fake News Detection in Disinformation, Misinformation, and Fake News in Social Media (2020) Edited by Kai Shu, Suhang Wang, Dongwon Lee, Huan Liu. New York: Springer. This chapter provides a review of visual content in fake news, “including the basic concepts, effective visual features, representative detection methods and challenging issues of multimedia fake news detection…to understand the role of visual content in fake news detection, and effectively utilize visual content to assist in detecting multimedia fake news.”
• Thomson, T. J., Thomas, R. J., and Matich, P. 2024. "Generative Visual AI in News Organizations: Challenges, Opportunities, Perceptions, and Policies." Digital Journalism, 1–22. This study of how photo editors use generative visual AI at their news organizations emphasizes the potential of AI-generated images to contribute to mis/disinformation and identifies the principles photo editors believe should inform editorial policy about visual AI use.
• Yang, Yunkang, Trevor Davis, and Matthew Hindman. 2023. "Visual misinformation on Facebook." Journal of Communication 73(4), 316–328. This first large-scale study of visual political misinformation on Facebook finds that misleading political images are pervasive on Facebook and that right-leaning image posts are five to seven times more likely to be misleading when compared to left-leaning image posts of a political nature.
• Brennen, J. Scott, Felix M. Simon, and Rasmus Kleis Nielsen. 2021. “Beyond (Mis)Representation: Visuals in COVID-19 Misinformation.” The International Journal of Press/Politics 26(1), 277–299. This analysis of visual misinformation during the Covid-19 pandemic identifies the most common frames for visual representation of information during the pandemic and argues that visual misinformation may act on audiences beyond representation.

Books