Abstract
Although the darkroom as a physical space has disappeared from newsrooms, it continues its life in an imaginary form, which sets the limits for digital photo editing. This article sheds light on this imaginary darkroom and its Tuchmanian rituals of objectivity by presenting results of a survey that was conducted in Finland among editorial staffs from different types of newspapers. By showing example sets of unaltered and altered photographic images, the survey mapped answers to such questions as: what are the limits of legitimacy for photo editing, what kinds of alterations in images should be announced to readers, and what effects may digital editing have on the alleged status of the “objective image”? The results show that all categories of staff generally oppose altering photographs used in a news context. The so-called objectivity of the journalistic image is an ideal that is deeply intertwined with journalistic work routines, but in concrete editing examples, opinions about what is acceptable and what is not may differ considerably. However, very often professionals refer to the “darkroom principle”: what was allowed in traditional darkrooms is also allowed in digital editing.
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