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A Discussion with Asia Balluffier, Pooja Chaudhuri, and Santiago Lyon, moderated by Mounir Ibrahim
Often portrayed as a threat to truthful information, the international circulation of images through social media has also become a valuable resource for investigative journalism. During ongoing wars and conflicts, image analysis, satellite pictures, geolocation, and videos taken by civilians and militaries allow journalists to complement field reporting with a technical approach. Far from breaking news speed, footage analysis takes many hours of work before reconstructing a detailed timeline of events and breaking down official claims. In explanatory videos, visual investigation units show their reporting process and the facts discovered. Could this be a partial answer to misinformation and mistrust in the media?
Increasingly, international newsrooms are investing in this type of reporting. In 2017, the New York Times created its Visual Investigation unit and won four Pulitzer prizes since then. Two years later, Le Monde founded its unit, initially to report on alleged police violence during the 2019 protests. Since then, the unit has worked on Uighurs' treatment by the Chinese government, Russian mercenaries, hospital bombings in the Gaza Strip, and many other subjects.
This panel examines visual investigation in journalism today: what counts as evidence, and how can it be used in news reporting? French and American journalists will explore how newsrooms find ways to use new technologies and analyze visual evidence to inform their reporting.
Event organized by the Columbia Maison Française and co-sponsored by Le Monde and Columbia Global Centers | Paris.
