Can a Photo Lie?

You have seen deceptive photos before. You must have been e-mailed that picture of a man holding a domestic house cat that appears to be the size of a cougar, or the photo of President Bush reading an upside down book. The retouching of photos has become so easy that the software that enables you to do it has become a verb.

Sometimes photos are misleading without any help at all. Louis Masur has written a book, The Soiling of Old Glory, about a Pulitzer Prize winning photo. Stanley Forman's shocking "Old Glory" photograph was shot during a 1976 Boston anti-busing demonstration. It appeared to show a well dressed black man being set upon by a crowd of white people. A young man seemed to be attempting to impale him with the American flag. The photo became symbolic of continued resistance to equality and was printed in newspapers across the country. In reality the teenager was swinging the flag, not charging, the camera caught the arc of the flag swinging in front of the black man. The man who appears to be restraining him was actually helping him to his feet. It was such a powerful image, even though it was misleading, it successfully stalled Boston’s anti busing movement. Read this book to find out what truly happened, exposed through interviews and other images on the camera.