World Press Photo Director: ‘One photo can change the world, as long as it’s real’

In a sea of possibilities involving image manipulation and deepfakes, World Press Photo stands as a beacon of reliability in photojournalism. Director Joumana El Zein Khoury heard people asking, “Since it’s a WPP photo, does that mean it’s actually real?”

Text: Maaike Bos

The man standing in front of the tank on Tiananmen Square in China, the “Napalm Girl” in Vietnam, the Syrian boy washed ashore on a Turkish beach: these were iconic photos that sparked much debate—and ultimately led to action. “How can an iconic photo help defend democracy?” was the title of a speech given by World Press Photo Director Joumana El Zein Khoury at the European Parliament’s InfoHub. The essence of her argument was that a compelling image is widely shared, allowing masses of people to form their own opinions and act on them. However, she explained, freedom of the press is necessary to take those photos. Photojournalism exists thanks to democracy and, in turn, contributes to it.

But there is a danger lurking in these new visual trends. Through social media bubbles, one-sided images, as well as manipulated photos and AI-generated deepfakes, spread at lightning speed. This leads people to act on false information, as was the case during the storming of the Capitol in early 2021. What value do images still hold if they can be manipulated so easily?

At the office on Amsterdam’s Westergasterrein, we speak with the director of World Press Photo (WPP). She sees her organization as a guardian of reliable photojournalism and a champion of freedom of expression. Thanks to a grant from the Foundation for Democracy and Media, WPP was also able to make its archive photos more accessible through the project *The World Press Photo Archive: How Our History Informs Our Future*.

Joumana El Zein Khoury (50) is sitting at a communal table wearing a burgundy cardigan and comfortable shoes—she doesn’t have her own office in the tall factory warehouse. There are several cakes in the open kitchen. “Lots of birthdays,” she laughs. The organization she has led since February 2021 is also celebrating its anniversary this year. Seventy years ago, WPP was founded in Amsterdam to showcase international photography worldwide. It has grown into a media organization that welcomes four million visitors annually to photo exhibitions in some 110 countries and reaches two billion people through social media.

How do you ensure that your audience does see an accurate portrayal?

She immediately looks sharp. “We have strict criteria for photo submissions. Photographers must first sign a code of ethics: that the subject gave consent for the photo, was not put in danger by it, and that the photo is not staged. Furthermore, adding or removing anything from the frame is unacceptable to us. You can’t just airbrush out a plastic bag—something that sometimes happens in newspapers. The color grading also can’t be too extreme: colors that are too saturated or too dark just to create more drama.”

And you haven’t even mentioned AI yet.

“Yes, for example, AI denoising has been around for two years now—a technique where AI can give a gray cement wall a rock-like texture. That’s not allowed either. But in the final selection round, we ask for a cover letter and the RAW files as well. Finally, we fact-check the sources and captions provided by the photographer. We rewrite them in more neutral language because they’re sometimes too activist in tone, and we also provide more context for a global audience.”

How can you avoid one-sidedness in picture stories?

“It starts with who decides which story should be shown. Since 2021, we’ve been starting the selection process with six regional juries around the world to ensure that the vast majority of winners are no longer men and no longer come from Europe or North America. Talent is certainly not limited to the West. This year, out of 60,000 submissions from 130 countries, 42 winners were ultimately selected, and 8 out of 10 were photographers from the very regions they portray.”

Does that result in different winning photos?

“They’re less sensational, but more surprising, I think. We don’t want to reinforce stereotypes—like those of veiled women who are crying or screaming. Now people can show who they really are. Last year there was a story about Alzheimer’s in Africa, which is often associated with witchcraft, especially among women. The entry told a positive story about a daughter who educated herself about her father’s Alzheimer’s because she didn’t want him to be institutionalized. She was the only one in the family who wasn’t afraid. She integrated him into the family and was thus able to show the community that Alzheimer’s is a part of life.”

Anyone familiar with Joumana El Zein Khoury’s personal background understands her commitment to diverse perspectives and local voices. She was born in Lebanon in February 1975 to a Sunni mother and a Shia father. When she was still a baby, her parents fled the war to Saudi Arabia, where she spent her first ten years. Her parents felt she was becoming too strictly Islamic and sent her and her brother to a boarding school in London for two years. When her father found work in Paris, she attended high school there and studied law. She went on to study health care administration in Paris and New York.

All kinds of regional and religious perspectives come together in your life. Just like at World Press Photo. How do you weave them into a single story?

She nods and smiles. “I don’t really choose. I’m a nomad, just as I once heard the writer Elif Shafak say: ‘I take things with me everywhere and leave other things behind.’” WPP doesn’t have just one story either; it’s a platform for many different voices and contexts. We’ve discussed whether we should also provide a platform for populism: yes, of course—it’s part of our reality. So this year, we have a winning photo with a story about a far-right movement. As long as all those photos are truthful. We’ve been conducting manipulation checks on submitted photos for twelve years now and have become one of the strictest in the field of photography. Do you remember that photo of a pregnant woman on a stretcher after a bombing in Ukraine? People said she was fake, an actress, but she was a real victim. “Now that it’s a WPP photo, does that mean it’s real?” people asked back then.’

We live in a time when fact-checkers are actually being laid off.

“Yes, it’s ridiculous! Well-researched, fact-checked images are constantly being called into question. But looking back on seventy years of WPP history, I put it into perspective. Photography will certainly survive those fake AI photos with new solutions, just as it has survived the transition from black-and-white to color, to digital, to cell phones. It’s becoming even more important to have human testimonies in words and images.”

You say that World Press Photo contributes to freedom and democracy. How so?

“Well, in addition to giving people from all over the world a voice, WPP also continues its work on the public engagement side. Last year, we held exhibitions in Ivory Coast, Iraq, Venezuela, and five cities in Ukraine. In very challenging places, preferably in public spaces. When you see that audience watching, you realize that democracy is also about having access to those stories, being open to other perspectives so you can form your own judgment, and recognizing yourself in situations far away. In Myanmar a few years ago, a visitor with her children said, “Now that I see this exhibition here, I know my country is changing.”’

There are plenty of regimes that don’t want that, right?

Ferm: “They have to handle the annual exhibition from start to finish. Three years ago in Hanoi, Vietnam, the government blocked one photo just before the opening. It was too late to find alternatives, so we hung up a blank sheet of paper with a QR code linking directly to the website and a note stating that we were displaying the photo at the Dutch embassy. The following year, they wanted fifteen exceptions. That’s where it stopped. For four years now, we’ve also been organizing thematic exhibitions from the archive of winning photos dating back to 1955, just to gain a little foothold. “People Power,” for example, focusing on civil protests, or “Resilience,” about women’s empowerment. Thanks to the exhibition “The Best of the Last Three Years,” we can go to Iran—without the most controversial photos.”

Is something better than nothing?

“We’re picking up on the approach of our photographers from those countries, aren’t we?” she chuckles. “First, we get in; then we push the boundaries a bit. In recent years, we’ve been facing a lot more censorship. Two years ago, it happened for the first time in Europe, in Budapest, Hungary. Because of an LGBTQI theme, our exhibition at the National Museum was restricted to ages 18 and up. We ran a whole awareness campaign around it. A year later, through the city government—but bypassing the central government—we found another venue, and the annual exhibition was open to all ages.”

So you’re sticking with the content, then?

“Yes, we don’t tone down the annual show. However, we do provide nuance by offering additional context. Last year, the Photo of the Year by Palestinian photographer Mohammed Salem was a sensitive subject: a photo of a veiled woman from Gaza mourning a child wrapped in sheets on her lap. We chose our captions very carefully so as not to exclude either Israel or Gaza. The jury decided to give two other winners special mentions and display them nearby: one depicting the aftermath of the Supernova festival in Israel, and one depicting the aftermath of a bombing in Gaza. We also included a video compilation of all previous archival photos related to the Israel-Palestine conflict to show that this war did not begin last year. We simply presented that complexity and context, because the world is not simple. For me, that is how we participate in democracy.”

Photo: Maaike Bos