Press Week Speech – War: The Image as Propaganda

Mar 30, 2012

Press Week Speech – War: The Image as Propaganda

by | Mar 30, 2012

Anne Holmes
Journalist / Media Consultant
On March 29 I was invited to give a speech at a high school in France just outside the city of Besançon, where I reside. It was press week and I was given carte blanche to address the subject of war photography.

Well, never a war without propaganda, I thought.

After showing a hundred 15-year olds a projection of my work, I gave a talk about the history of the image and propaganda, how photography can be a powerful tool to convey certain messages, how to spot manipulated images, and how to use tools like TinEye and Google image search to check for the original source.

Teenagers get most of their information from social media sites today and it is important to teach them to be smart about what they click and share. “Do your research,” I advised. The necessary tools are now readily available to us to become well-informed citizens. It is our duty to construct our own historical truth as it unfolds, and rectify the myths of the past. 

Below is a brief write-up (in French) in the Lyon-based newspaper Le Progrès.

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+33 06 08 46 97 90

 

info@anneholmesphotography.com

© Anne Holmes  All Rights Reserved