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Posts Tagged ‘censorship’

Sony World Photography Awards receives backlash over alleged censorship of Hong Kong protest images

20 Feb

Update (Wednesday, February 19th): it appears that the galleries are available to the public again. However, Chung Ming’s more sensitive images are not displayed.

The 2020 Sony World Photography Awards recently removed active links to images from three separate finalists due to their ‘sensitive nature.’ Ko Chung Ming’s Wounds of Hong Kong, David Butow’s Battleground Hong Kong and Adam Ferguson’s Hong Kong Protestors series are still in the running to win an award. However, links to their work have been deactivated on the World Photography Organization’s (WPO) website, a move that’s raised concerns about possible censorship.

‘We have temporarily taken down the images as part of a standard process which we have to put in place for these type of cases, until we are able to review everything in further detail,’ the WPO said.

Chung Ming first noticed the link to his series, which was nominated in the Documentary category, was broken on Friday. Initially he thought it was a site error. It was only when he tried to view Butow and Ferguson’s series, and received the same ‘404 Page not found’ message, that he realized the WPO was purposely concealing imagery that revealed the brutal reality of the Hong Kong protests.

“We have temporarily taken down the images as part of a standard process which we have to put in place for these type of cases, until we are able to review everything in further detail.”

‘I don’t know who’s complaining and what their concerns are. But why should any ‘concerns’ not be addressed by the judges at the judging phase?’ asked Chung Ming in a response to HKFP. ‘As long as the final result is up to the jury’s professional judgement, I wouldn’t say there’s censorship,’ he added.

As of Tuesday, the ‘404 page not found’ error was still popping up on Chung Ming’s series. On Wednesday, the link was redirected to a ‘Protected Page’ where login credentials were needed in order to view his work. A recent post on Chung-ming’s Facebook account elicited uniform comments of disappointment in the WPO.

‘Photos taken during a war right in the war zone has won numerous awards, but I’ve never seen any of those labeled “sensitive nature.” Anyway thanks so much for your effort and your truthful recording.’ said Sam Si. ‘Worse and much more “sensitive” stuff has been put on WPO before, and the fact that they’re on targeting Hong Kong related photography seriously calls into question the integrity of the organisation.’ adds Galax Chen.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Facebook is planning to relax censorship rules for newsworthy images

25 Oct
 Image: Nick Ut/The Associated Press

Last month Norway’s largest newspaper, Aftenposten, published an open letter on its front page, accusing Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg of ‘abuse of power.’ The letter was published as a response to Facebook removing the famous ‘Napalm Girl’ image, taken by photographer Nick Ut, from the newspaper’s Facebook page on the grounds of a blanket ban on nudity in all images posted on the social network.

The picture had been used in an article about the seven most iconic images in the history of war. After receiving a wave of intense criticism following the incident, Facebook has announced in a blog post that it will be relaxing its photo censorship rules around news events:

‘In the weeks ahead, we’re going to begin allowing more items that people find newsworthy, significant, or important to the public interest — even if they might otherwise violate our standards. We will work with our community and partners to explore exactly how to do this, both through new tools and approaches to enforcement. Our intent is to allow more images and stories without posing safety risks or showing graphic images to minors and others who do not want to see them.’

We will have to wait and see how exactly this will be defined but it’s fair to assume that Nick Ut’s picture would have been considered historically significant and therefore safe under the revised guidelines. 

We should expect any changes to take effect within the next few weeks as Facebook is working on replacing its filter algorithms. The company says it will be working closely with experts, publishers, journalists, photographers, law enforcement officials and safety advocates to achieve this. 

What do you think? Is this a step in the right direction for Facebook? Let us know in the comments.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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