Crowdsourcing

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's Ministry of Photoshop has been working overtime. Via Cory Doctorow, a marked-up image from a pro-Ahmadinejad rally:

You'll recall the digitally altered photograph that was circulated by the PR department of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards to Agence France-Presse (and other outlets). That photograph was subsequently retracted, but not before it inspired Oliver Laric to consider the international incident in terms of its ramifications for the authenticity of the image.

Oliver Laric, Versions, 2009

A video piece, pew pew pew! It's part of a show called "Image Search", which wins out in the category of group show titles this year.

On the rally image, the Ahmadinejad administration must be doubling down on domestic audience. At this point any image they file is going to be scrutinized by image nerds, but the benefit at home must outweight the cost abroad.