The issue of the manipulation of images has become far more pressing in a digital age. In August it caused red faces at Reuters, when it emerged that a photo of the bombing of Lebanon had been doctored.

The photographer in question, Adnan Hajj, was fired and all the 920 images he had taken were recalled by Reuters. But the damage was done and the global reputation of the news agency suffered as a result.

News organisations have rules about how far an image can be treated in Photoshop. But now Reuters is taking steps to try to reassure the public and rebuild trust. In an address to the Globes Media Conference in Tel Aviv, CEO Tom Glocer talked about new measures for greater transparency regarding its photojournalism.

From his blog:

“I am pleased to announce today that we are working with Adobe and Canon to create a solution that enables photo editors to view an audit trail of changes to a digital image, which is permanently embedded in the photograph, ensuring the accuracy of the image.

We are still working through the details and hope this will be a new standard for Reuters and I believe should be the new industry standard.”

Glocer goes on to reassure his staff that this is not because he doesn’t trust his photographers. Instead it is about offering “total and full transparency of our work”.

This is a sensible way of reacting to the controversy. Rather than just saying to the public, trust it, Reuters is giving the audience a way of checking that that trust is well placed.

Greater transparency is good for journalism and good for the public.