Photographs: True or False?

In Errol Morris’s Liar, Liar, Pants on Fire article on the New York Times, he addressed the long-standing idea that photographs could be either true or false.  Ultimately, Morris’s argument is that photographs, if and of themselves, cannot be true or false, contrary to popular belief.  However, they can be.

            Morris’s feels that a photograph with no caption, background, or emotion to a viewer makes the photograph virtually worthless.   When a photograph has these qualities it becomes something more. “It is also interesting how a photograph quickly changes when we learn more about what it depicts, when we provide a context, when we become familiar with an underlying story”(Morris).  For Morris, the relationship is not between the photograph and the world, but rather the world and language.   A photograph itself cannot be true or false, but the language used in for the photograph, what describes it and the context it is placed in—that can by true or false.  “They are only true or false with respect to statements that we make about them or the questions that we might ask of them”(Morris).

            To a large extend I do find myself agreeing with Morris.  While a photograph can be doctored and, therefore, made false I feel for arguments sake when talking about un-tampered photographs—yes they cannot be either true or false in or of themselves.  The viewer cannot discern a photograph with no caption, no context, and no emotional stimulus.

 Take for example the article on MSNBC by Stephanie Nebehay, Reuters, Both sides in Syria commit war crimes including murder, torture, UN says.  http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/02/18/17004600-both-sides-in-syria-commit-war-crimes-including-murder-torture-un-says?lite.  The very start of the article begins with a photograph of a women holding another and appearing to be upset.  This imagine alone would produce some questions, but without context it wouldn’t be discernable.  However, under the picture there is the caption that reads, “A Syrian woman hold her injured son in a taxi as they arrive at a hospital in Aleppo on Feb. 8.”  The caption provides some context of what the picture is describing and may even draw an emotional response.  But ultimately, the response to the picture would be limited.  Nor could one make the statement of the photograph being true or false.  If one is unaware of what is currently or has been occurring in Syria, upon reading the article they would obtain background information and upon looking back at the picture on the top of the article, they then could ask questions, make assumptions and ultimately ask whether this photograph is true or false.  “Pictures may be worth a thousand words, but there are two words that you can never apply to them: ‘true’ and ‘false’”(Morris).