Posted on 08/07/2006 7:48:55 AM PDT by PajamaTruthMafia
LONDON, Aug 7 (Reuters) - Reuters withdrew all 920 photographs by a freelance Lebanese photographer from its database on Monday after an urgent review of his work showed he had altered two images from the conflict between Israel and the armed group Hizbollah.
Global Picture Editor Tom Szlukovenyi called the measure precautionary but said the fact that two of the images by photographer Adnan Hajj had been manipulated undermined trust in his entire body of work.
"There is no graver breach of Reuters standards for our photographers than the deliberate manipulation of an image," Szlukovenyi said in a statement.
"Reuters has zero tolerance for any doctoring of pictures and constantly reminds its photographers, both staff and freelance, of this strict and unalterable policy."
The news and information agency announced the decision in an advisory note to its photo service subscribers. The note also said Reuters had tightened editing procedures for photographs from the conflict and apologised for the case.
Removing the images from the Reuters database excludes them from future sale.
Reuters ended its relationship with Hajj on Sunday after it found that a photograph he had taken of the aftermath of an Israeli air strike on suburban Beirut had been manipulated using Photoshop software to show more and darker smoke rising from buildings.
An immediate enquiry began into Hajj's other work.
It established on Monday that a photograph of an Israeli F-16 fighter over Nabatiyeh, southern Lebanon and dated Aug 2, had also been doctored to increase the number of flares dropped by the plane from one to three.
"Manipulating photographs in this way is entirely unacceptable and contrary to all the principles consistently held by Reuters throughout its long and distinguished history. It undermines not only our reputation but also the good name of all our photographers," Szlukovenyi said.
"This doesn't mean that every one of his 920 photographs in our database was altered. We know that not to be the case from the majority of images we have looked at so far but we need to act swiftly and in a precautionary manner."
The two altered photographs were among 43 that Hajj filed directly to the Reuters Global Pictures Desk since the start of the conflict on July 12 rather than through an editor in Beirut, as was the case with the great majority of his images.
Filing drills have been tightened in Lebanon and only senior staff will now edit pictures from the Middle East on the Global Pictures Desk, with the final check undertaken by the Editor-in-Charge, Reuters said.
Hajj worked for Reuters as a non-staff contributing photographer from 1993 until 2003 and again since April 2005. Most of his work was in sports photography, much of it outside Lebanon.
Hajj was not in Beirut on Monday and was not responding to calls. He told Reuters on Sunday that the image of the Israeli air strike on Beirut had dust marks which he had wanted to remove.
Questions about the accuracy of the photograph arose after it appeared on news Web sites on Saturday.
Several blogs, including a number which accuse the media of distorted coverage of the Middle East conflict, said the photograph had been doctored.
So, are we going to launch our own CSI FR investigation of all the photographers who showed Green Helmet Guy? Should be easy enough.
The better thing to do is scour old image archives for images of "green helmet guy". It appears that he has popped up before, stretching back for years.
Would be interesting to see if the same photographers happened to catch him.
There are alliances. And as I pointed out in the LA Times case, these "journalists" have a way of popping up again and again.
"Siding" and "abetting" are not synonymous.
Serving as a propaganda mouthpiece is abetting.
For the record- The Hajj trail
As best I can tell, it started with the folks at EU Referendum questioning the Qana photos (this was picked up by Rush and others last week) Here are the most relevant posts at EU Referendum. "Qana the directors cut" and The truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth" sort of sum it all up IMHO (see below)
Milking it
http://eureferendum.blogspot.com/2006_07_01_eureferendum_archive.html#115429339722244068
Who is this Man?
http://eureferendum.blogspot.com/2006_07_01_eureferendum_archive.html#115435464393966674
The Green Helmet mystery Continues
http://eureferendum.blogspot.com/2006_08_01_eureferendum_archive.html#115439598900887049
We Need to know the truth
http://eureferendum.blogspot.com/2006_08_01_eureferendum_archive.html#115444005168305521
Game, set and match
http://eureferendum.blogspot.com/2006_08_01_eureferendum_archive.html#115447994916688512
Stretcher Alley
http://eureferendum.blogspot.com/2006_08_01_eureferendum_archive.html#115453781580920185
"Vital to telling the story"
http://eureferendum.blogspot.com/2006_08_01_eureferendum_archive.html#115461060077719445
Alright, explain this one!
http://eureferendum.blogspot.com/2006_08_01_eureferendum_archive.html#115464788249249384
Qana - the director's cut
http://eureferendum.blogspot.com/2006/08/qana-directors-cut.html
The truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth (Green Helmet & Co, shows up in Tyre)
http://eureferendum.blogspot.com/2006_08_01_eureferendum_archive.html#115489272301235042
Doctored photos
Little Green Footballs uncovered an obviously doctored photo by Hajj
http://littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/?entry=21956_Reuters_Doctoring_Photos_from_Beirut&only
It was quickly picked up here on FR
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1678470/posts
Reuters admitted the first photo (Beirut smoke) was doctored and suspended Hajj
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1678852/posts
A second doctored photo (F16) was identified by Jawa
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1678950/posts
Reuters admitted the second photo was also doctored, fired Hajj and withdrew all 920 of his photographs at Reuters
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1679185/posts?q=1&&page=1#1
Complete statement:
"There is no graver breach of Reuters standards for our photographers than the deliberate manipulation of an image which is so amateurish that it is spotted by the general public" Szlukovenyi said in a statement.
Yeah --- I've seen one photo of the same guy dated 1986, where he was holding a (presumably) dead infant.
Finding all the photographers who've used that guy in their staged photos would be good. They need to be outed --- and all their material needs to be listed as propaganda.
From a journalistic standpoint, I have no problem with Cole going into the church to get photos and cover the situation. If she expressed personal opinions about the situation and it wasn't labeled commentary, that's absolutely wrong. BTW, the phots she took made her a finalist for the Pulitzer that year.
Throwing rocks to stir things up would also be wrong, but I don't see in either article that she was convicted.
Here's some more about Cole that you didn't include:
In mid-2003, Cole went to Liberia, as rebels surrounded the capital, Monrovia, demanding the resignation of President Charles Taylor. This trip was to earn her the 2004 Pulitzer Prize, "for her cohesive, behind-the-scenes look at the effects of civil war in Liberia, with special attention to innocent citizens caught in the conflict."
On top of the Pulitzer win, in 2004 Cole was named both NPPA Newspaper Photographer of the Year for a second time, for her work in both Liberia and Iraq, and the Pictures of the Year International Newspaper Photographer by the University of Missouri. This made her the first person ever to win all three of America's top photojournalism awards in the same year. During the year, she also spent time in Haiti, witnessing the fall of the regime of Jean-Bertrand Aristide.
Cole has also received the Robert Capa Gold Medal from the Overseas Press Club in both 2003 and 2004, and won two World Press Photo awards in 2004.
Pulitzer gave an award to a journalist who made up stories of Katrina victims in a stadium stacked up in a fridge.
Pulitzer doesn't mean what you think it does.
The Time journalist who is undercover with Al Qaeda. Is he a traitor?
Such examples will one day fill a book. And the public will forever realize they were had by the alphabet networks.
And this is nothing new. George Orwell wrote of it (and that appears as one of two forwards by Orwell) in the 50th anniversary edition of Animal Farm.
He wrote of how the communists in the British Press were tolerant of criticism of the British and American policies in WWII but censored any efforts to be critical of Stalin's USSR.
I'm going to revamp my profile page with a concentration on media bias.
She's won many, many more awards than the Pulitzer. She's taken some amazing photos.
"The Time journalist who is undercover with Al Qaeda. Is he a traitor?"
I have no idea what you're talking about. Haven't read or heard about this. Do you have a link so I can learn?
"I'm going to revamp my profile page with a concentration on media bias."
Why so mild? Bias is a dead horse needing no new beating. How about what the NYT, LaTimes, Boston Globe, et al, do to deserve prosecution for treason, sedition, aiding and comforting? That would be a grabber.
"The Insurgency" also includes compelling personal video from Australian journalist Michael Ware, Baghdad bureau chief for Time magazine and one of the reporters with the most in-depth access to insurgent leaders.
He was embedded with Saddam's troops at the time of Saddam's capture. He has continued to be referred to as an "expert" on the terrorists in Iraq because of his direct communication with them.
And the public wonders why the media is SCREAMING about wiretapping communications between Al Qaeda and those in America? They don't want their culpability uncovered.
Traitor to whom? This guy's an Australian so he can't be a traitor to the U.S. Are you saying that if you cover the war from the other side, you're automatically a traitor? Do you have any evidence he's given tactical information to the enemy?
Given his contacts, we might learn something about the enemy from him.
If you are UNDERGROUND with terrorists, yes you are the enemy. Time Magazine is a US publication. They write his checks.
Australia has had troops deployed in Iraq.
We could not bring him up on charges of treason.
What is this "other side" you speak of? Criminal side? There is no "terrorist government" to report on. Only a criminal enterprise. No diplomats. No flag. No signatory to the Geneva Conventions.
If you were caught in the company of criminals engaged in criminal activity, do you think you would be permitted to proclaim "I was just watching" and "I couldn't disclose their whereabouts because then I would betray their trust".
Should Murrow have gone and given us the Nazis view of the war?
I LOVE that picture of the burning Koran!!
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