Posted on 08/28/2006 10:57:00 AM PDT by John Jorsett
Does the mainstream press ever wonder why conservatives distrust them so much?
If so, they need look no further than the “fauxtography” scandals of the last couple of weeks. Conservative bloggers have been hard at work sniffing out suspected fakery and staging in the photos sent back on the newswires from the Israel/Hezbollah conflict, and the investigation got pretty smelly.
First, there was Reutersgate, in which the international news organization had to pull a photo and fire a freelance photographer because he clumsily Photoshopped thicker smoke into the skyline of Beirut.
This incident got bloggers wondering what other photographic evidence of Israeli aggression had been Photoshopped or staged into existence, and just how complicit the news media was in the fakery. They came up with a photo by the same Reuters photographer, in which he had added flares to a photograph of an Israeli plane, and called them missiles.
But that was just the beginning. There was Green Helmet Guy, who seemed to be ever-present at the sites of Israeli “atrocities,” always making the most of the evidence of civilian casualties. He even played director to international news crews and photographers, showing them how to get the best shots of Lebanese casualties.
Then there was the “Passion of the Toys,” in which brand-new toys—poignant symbols of childhood innocence—seemed to keep popping up, perfectly framed by the destruction of war, yet strangely unscathed by it.
Oh, but it doesn’t stop there. Later came the “unluckiest multiple home owner in Lebanon,” photographed on several occasions, weeping in front of her several homes, bombed by several Israeli airstrikes. Then, we have the New York Times’ pieta, in which a rescue worker was carelessly identified as a victim of an airstrike when, in fact, he had been injured while working in the area. And, the flaming tire atrocity. And, the time Hezbollah bombed an Israeli ship in Australia.
Finally, this week, there was the ambulance attack that maybe wasn’t. There’s strong evidence to suggest that the two ambulances allegedly hit by Israeli airstrikes on July 23 were not exactly pulverized by missiles, as we were led to believe.
Reuters fired its fake photographer, which was the correct response to such deception. But, beyond that, there has not been much comeuppance for photographers and reporters involved in airbrushed, faked, and staged news.
The mainstream media’s response to the allegations from blogs has been more along the lines of Greg Mitchell’s, editor of Editor & Publisher, a trade magazine whose mission it is to cover “all aspects of the North American newspaper industry, including business, newsroom, advertising, circulation, marketing, technology, online and syndicates.”
Mitchell’s response to accusations from bloggers—instead of answering the charges and refuting evidence—was to get very defensive, claim that “rightwing bloggers” were only attempting to smear photojournalists as a group, and then proceed to smear rightwing bloggers as a group for daring to point out the dishonesty of some photojournalists, and raise questions about how business is conducted in the Middle East.
You can see Mitchell’s response to the accusations, here and here. You can see the deconstruction thereof, here and here. All are worth a read to really understand how the mainstream media deals with accusations of fraud, and how cavalierly it tosses aside some of its most avid consumers’ concerns. Here’s a typical paragraph from one of Mitchell’s pieces:
Time does not permit a point by point documentation of the dozens of ludicrous, or at least completely unproven, examples of doctored or staged or otherwise manipulated photos on the Web. Have no fear, I will soon return to this subject, but in the meantime, feel free to plunge into the blogosphere. If you go deeply enough, you may feel you are back on the Grassy Knoll. One of the most-linked sites in this controversy, EU Referendum, goes so far as to suggest that a kind of Hollywood "film-set" was improvised at the site of the Qana killings "for the benefit of both Hezbollah and the media."
I would highly recommend you go through the links I’ve listed above and decide for yourself whether the accusations are “ludicrous,” particularly the video of a Hollywood film-set improvised at the site of the Qana killing, “for the benefit of both Hezbollah and the media.”
Instead of addressing concerns and refuting evidence, Mitchell calls bloggers a bunch of Grassy Knoll-ers intent on discrediting “the media as a whole.” This is not the way to win trust with your audience.
Mitchell then went on to discredit himself within the space of just a couple hours.
On Friday, the Confederate Yankee blog brought attention to a column Mitchell had written in 2003, in which he confessed to making up news as a young reporter. He had been sent out to do a story on Niagara Falls, and found himself unable to talk to tourists to get quotes. So, he sat on a bench and made the quotes up. He confessed his journalistic sin in the wake of the Jayson Blair scandal.
Many other blogs picked up on the 2003 column, suggesting that Mitchell might be sympathetic to faked news because he himself had been a faker.
Several hours after Confederate Yankee’s post went up, that blogger noticed the text of the 2003 article had been changed. The lede had gone from this:
Since the press seems to be in full-disclosure mode these days, I want to finally come clean. Back when I worked for the Niagara Falls (N.Y.) Gazette (now the Niagara Gazette), our city editor asked me to find out what tourists thought about an amazing local event: Engineers had literally “turned off” the famous cataracts, diverting water so they could shore up the crumbling rock face. Were visitors disappointed to find a trickle rather than a roar? Or thrilled about witnessing this once-in-a-lifetime stunt?
To this (additions in bold):
Since the press seems to be in full-disclosure mode these days, I want to finally come clean. Back in 1967, when I was 19 and worked for the Niagara Falls (N.Y.) Gazette (now the Niagara Gazette) as a summer intern, our city editor asked me to find out what tourists thought about an amazing local event: Engineers had literally "turned off" the famous cataracts, diverting water so they could shore up the crumbling rock face. Were visitors disappointed to find a trickle rather than a roar? Or thrilled about witnessing this once-in-a-lifetime stunt?
The column had been edited, without notation, within a couple of hours of bloggers calling attention to it, to emphasize Mitchell’s youth and inexperience at the time of his ethical faux pas. Luckily, several bloggers and the Internet preserved the original piece.
So, it seems someone went back and altered a three-year-old column to reflect more positively on Mitchell, once it got a bit of attention from the “Grassy Knoll,” “rightwing bloggers.” Makes all those “ludicrous” accusations of dishonesty of the mainstream press seem not so ludicrous, doesn’t it?
Mitchell now has not just his industry’s malfeasance to answer for, but his own malfeasance, which he admitted to in a 2003 column, and which was then compounded when someone altered his three-year-old copy to protect him.
Changing copy three years after it has been published, without providing a “correction” or “clarification” note, is entirely unethical by the very standards of the newspaper industry Mitchell is charged with covering. Dan Riehl, another blogger, has evidence that Mitchell may have been altering copy in his latest E&P column, as well.
Rightwing bloggers are predisposed to distrust the media, as are most conservatives. The fauxtographers and defenders like Mitchell are giving us no reason to be encouraged. The mainstream press’ stock is in credibility. The right course is to answer, quickly and thoroughly, any credible charges against them, so as to preserve that stock.
Instead, with the notable exceptions of David Perlmutter and Jim Pinkerton, the mainstream media seems content to blame it all on the Grassy Knoll while half of its readers find news coverage is greener on the other side.
This is why we don’t believe you.
"...is another one."
I've got some real news for you. 99% of the NEWS you get from TV and NEWSPAPERS is ALTERED/HYPED/OUTRIGHT LIES, and always has been.
It is altered to benefit advertisers, cover up for favored politicians, and hyped for maximum sensationalism to ensure higher market shares.
Any 'truth' you get from the news is considered 'accidental' and can be explained away later if necessary.
Bump!
"It makes me wonder if the alphabet networks haven't been producing fake news ever since they realized the power of television."
Yes. Prior to that, the NEWS ORGANIZATIONS that were to become the alphabet networks used NEWSPAPERS to produce FAKE NEWS and have been doing so ever since GUTENBERG invented the printing press.
Tailwind - Peter Arnett's supposedly airtight report on the use of chemical weapons by US troops in SE Asia, since debunked.
Oops. Suppose I should post a correction here! ;^)
Don't leave out Larry King. You can go on that show and say about anything and you won't have your facts or premises challenged.
Warning! This is a high-volume ping list.
Ah, the famous Orwellian "memory hole" which was a plot device in "1984" (managing one of these desks was the protagonist's "gainful" occupation).
Reuter's is but one example of the "privatization" of information management.
He looks san fran-ish
Oh yeah, the floods in New Jersey. The newsreporter in the boat as the film crew are ankle deep in front of her.
great summation; good one to pass along to the uniformed.
Makes you think about the Apollo Moon landing and the missing film footage.
/takes off tinfoil hat
Yup.. What we need is a National Daily newspaper that rivals USA today called The Truth.
With a NY Times Flare.. .All the news that's fit to tell you the truth about what the MSM is doing to deceive you.
Instead of addressing concerns and refuting evidence, Mitchell calls bloggers a bunch of Grassy Knoll-ers intent on discrediting “the media as a whole.” This is not the way to win trust with your audience
Today's bloggers are doing the job Editors are paid to do. Makes me wonder if Mitchel and his editor buddies spend the work day hanging out at the "Gay Bar."
Cheers,
OLA
It's obvious that the cover photo closeup in the August 28 issue, as well as several of the photos inside, have been electronically touched up to improve her facial appearance and take years off her age. In fact, a comparison of the current cover photo and one of the same subject used back in 2003 reveals a loss or attenuation of skin wrinkles, bags under the eyes, crow's feet, and other cosmetic problems on the supposedly later photo as compared to the earlier one!
Some might think nothing of this, but this chicanery is being performed by a publication which bills itself as a news magazine. But just as with Reuters, etc., fauxtography is not real journalism, but journalistic fraud.
Small wonder that Her Thighness thinks she can pull this off. Her top political advisor, Mandy Grunwald, is the daughter of the former Time editor in chief and the wife of one of Time's current journalistic "stars."
This is another MSM scandal that must be exposed out in the blogosphere!
For me the most outrageous truth about the media came with the abduction and release of the FOX journalists.
What did you hear when they were captured? Their families appealed to the barbarian gangs that they had captured the wrong people, ie the media.
You heard how they were in Gaza to "tell the Palestinian" story, that they sympathized with the "Palestinians" etc. The appeal was that the barbarians had captured their allies.
Isn't the media supposed to be neutral? I know stupid question. But how often, not withstanding doctored photos, is it so obvious- by their own admission- that the media is a tool of the "Palestinians" and other Islamists?
If I had been kidnapped and forced at gunpoint to recite from the Koran, when released I would have had a few choice words for both Islam and its followers.
What did these "journalists" do? Said nice things about Islam, absolved almost all "Palestinians" from what had happened to them, and posed smilingly with a Hamas leader.
They now get to go home. What about their colleagues who stay to "report". Think you'll get a single honest report out of Gaza from those there both "to tell the "Palestinians" story" and to survive in the Islamic jungle.
Funny how it never works the other way. If Israel or the US accidentally harms journalists, nowhere in their cry do you hear "why oh why" we were just there to tell the Israeli or the American side. Instead there are accusations, a permanent lack of forgiveness and hell to pay.
The disturbing make believe photos from this disturbing make believe event are shown below. Don’t allow children under the age of 30 to view this horror caused by Israel. Of course, this is Bush's fault.
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No Problem! Here comes your Bomb!
![](http://www.photopile.com/photos/dead/auctions/263308.jpg")
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