#BringBackOurGirls and the Misuse of Imagery
June 7, 2014 9:07 AM Subscribe
#BringBackOurGirls and the Misuse of Imagery
The Twitter campaign #BringBackOurGirls helped galvanize a response to the kidnapping of 276 Nigerian girls by the Islamic militant group Boko Haram in early May. Accompanying the hashtag are images that have been reposted thousands of times—by everyone from Chris Brown to the BBC. The only problem? These are pictures from Guinea-Bissau, three years ago, of girls that have never been kidnapped.
The Twitter campaign #BringBackOurGirls helped galvanize a response to the kidnapping of 276 Nigerian girls by the Islamic militant group Boko Haram in early May. Accompanying the hashtag are images that have been reposted thousands of times—by everyone from Chris Brown to the BBC. The only problem? These are pictures from Guinea-Bissau, three years ago, of girls that have never been kidnapped.
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I expect the journalist would defend the use of a generic image to highlight and help catch the eye of all us distracted readers only willing to give our minimal attention, as brief as it is, to an issue that has a visual element. But having some tag or indication that it's stock would seem to be the minimal responsibility.
Did you try to track down an editor or poster that originated this use of the image?
posted by sammyo at 4:15 PM on June 10, 2014 [1 favorite]