Seventeenth International Conference on New Directions in the Humanities

Abstract

Visual image manipulation raises the risk of inappropriate control of people’s perceptions of a particular reality. The media can also have different opportunities for readers and viewers to influence their interpretation of a particular event. In addition to the media, people or institutions with different objectives can benefit from this. Media institutions, real or legal persons may attempt to manipulate or deceive viewers through consciously or unconsciously. The purpose of this study is to determine whether the audience has noticed visual manipulations, how much they try to confirm when they suspect, and what their thoughts and attitudes are about manipulative images. This qualitative research is based on a case study. In this context, the attitudes and opinions of Anadolu University Faculty of Communication students on image manipulation are collected through in-depth interviews. In this process, they are questioned how they define the concept of image processing, what they do when they think they are exposed to image manipulation in the media environment, how they have the skills to understand whether there is a manipulative image, what they used to develop methods, and what they think about the prevalence of manipulation.