Not long after Rohitha Bogollagama found favour with the "powers that be" to replace Mangala Samaraweera as the Foreign Minister of Sri Lanka, a major english newspaper, the Daily Mirror, carried the above picture with the following commentary: "US Ambassador Robert O. Blake is all smiles with Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama at the conclusion of the Minister’s first briefing for diplomats yesterday. Pic by Dinuka Liyanawatte". See it at this link. (source: Daily Mirror, 07.02.07)
The US ambassador Robert Blake, we might well imagine, is a tall man of no small proportions. But then Rohitha Bogollagama is not exactly pint sized either. Except, you wouldn't guess that by looking at this picture!
What is it, a curious reader might wonder, about sharing a smile with Robert Blake that has made the newly appointed Foreign Minister shrink so much? Is it perhaps that Bogollagama is feeling small because Blake is not looking at him while smiling? But modern technology is not yet up to reading emotional vibes, let alone translating them to optical representations. So what could explain the fact that feeling small Bogollagama is also looking so very small next to Robert Blake?
Whatever it is that modern technology can or cannot do, the person who edited the picture certainly had some handle on the basic skill of cropping digital images. If only we had been allowed to see the person who is standing in front of Robert Blake, the person actually evoking some cheerfulness from him, then we would not have had to wonder so much at the relative sizes of Blake and Bogollagama.
There is a great deal to be said here about the need for better ethics in the media, and the corrupt collusion of journalists and politicians. But as they say, "A picture is worth a thousand words".
Action: You can share your concerns about the falsification of news and images by writing directly to editor of the Daily Mirror and the Press Complaints Commission of Sri Lanka. Some contact details are available here
