Posted on 08/08/2006 8:39:56 AM PDT by exg
Altered war Manipulated photos highlight untruths in Mideast conflict By LICIA CORBELLA
They say the first casualty of war is Truth. Yesterday, the respected news agency Reuters issued an unprecedented announcement. Essentially, it admitted it unwittingly published propaganda as straight news.
In a released statement, the wire agency announced the withdrawal of all 920 photographs by freelance Lebanese photographer, Adnan Hajj from its database "after an urgent review of his work showed he had altered two images from the conflict between Israel and the armed group Hezbollah," said the statement.
Wishful thinking on Reuters' part.
The breaches go far deeper than just two photos.
The "urgent review" was initiated after numerous examples of staged "rescue" photos were shown on numerous blogs on the Internet including: http://powerlinblog.com/archives/014919.php and http://eureferendum.blogspot.com/2006/07/milking-it.html and http://mypetjawa.mu.nu/archives/184206.php
Global picture editor Tom Szlukovenyi said: "There is no graver breach of Reuters standards for our photographers than the deliberate manipulation of an image."
Hajj has worked for Reuters from 1993 to 2003 and then again since April 2005.
One has to wonder what other propaganda has been disseminated as straight news by Hajj.
The statement continues: "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," continued the Reuters statement.
It established yesterday 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.
But altering photos wasn't Hajj's only specialty. As http://powerlinblog.com/archives/014919.php shows.
On July 24 at 2:37 PM ET a Hajj photo shows a destroyed southern Beirut neighbourhood with a very distinctive building with a geometric design on the building.
On August 5 -- 12 days following that photo, Hajj sent out a photo of the exact same neighbourhood and the following cutline accompanied the photo: "A Lebanese woman looks at the sky as she walks past a building flattened during an overnight Israeli air raid on Beirut's suburbs August 5, 2006. (Adnan Hajj/Reuters)".
So, the world believes Israel is flattening entire neighbourhoods constantly when in fact the same neighbourhood is repeatedly shown. Thank heavens for bloggers.
More interestingly, however, http://eureferendum.blogspot.com/2006/07/milking-it.html exposes that these war photographers from various agencies are having the same "news" photo staged for them.
In this blog, the same child is seen being carried by three different men in their rush to get the obviously dead child to an ambulance. The photos were clearly staged for each different photographer over several hours.
Did the photographers know this? It's hard to know.
Yesterday, Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora initially said 40 people were killed in an Israeli air strike in Marjayoun. Oops. Slight exaggeration. Actually five people were killed.
And remember the news from Qana, where apparently 54 members of two families were killed July 30 by Israeli bombs according to Lebanese officials? Remember how they said mostly children died?
Human Rights Watch put the toll at 28 killed and 13 missing. Wanna bet the missing 13 were evacuated to Canada? From 40 to five, 54 to 28. The Lebanese government claims more than 500 Lebanese have died since this war began -- a war the Lebanese terrorist group Hezbollah started.
So, what's the Truth? It's definitely less and likely a lot less.
Needless to say, it's sad that any innocent people had to die thanks to the lunacy of Hezbollah. It's particularly sad that Truth is killed again and again and Canadians embrace the lies of terrorist groups rather than the Truth of our ally.
What standards?
Five? I thought the number had been whittled down to ONE.
Maybe, they could just use italics or bold when this ISN'T the case.
No cred.
Well, so the story goes. Not a little of the stuff they've published wittingly falls under that category as well. I will say that once caught they didn't attempt to bluster it out as did Dan Rather and CBS news under similar circumstances.
"There is no graver breach of Reuters standards..."
"What standards?"
Why getting caught, of course.
"There is no graver breach of Reuters standards... than to get caught pushing our propoganda!"
You beat me to it!
Reuter fauxtog Adnan Haijj is a window licker in a short bus.
Unwittingly-------Unwittingly ??? I hardly thinks so. They knew what they were doing and they got caught.
Does anyone really believe they admitted this of their own volition, just out of the blue.??
They got caught or they would still be doing it and may stil be doing it anyway.
I think dan rather called it fake but acureat. Reuters doesnt have that excuse , Its just plain fake.
Reuters has pulled the photos but they continue to influence. There is a CNN news graphic montage they use for the "crisis in the middle east" and for a fleeting moment, one of Hajj's stills is used (the one with the unusually bright fireball).
They can pull the photos and issue apologies, but the damage is already done. Only a matter of time before they surface on Hezbollah recruiting posters.
Drudge told LGF that photo could hurt peoples perception on this story.
I think it only clarifies the deception when you tell people that only Godzilla was added.
The DUmmies have said (A) it is an Israeli/Rovian con (*itch set me up), (B) it is fake but accurate, (C) it is genuine.
Reuters is entirely innocent of this affair. There is no bias in their reporting..
No, they just got caught because they're getting too blatant, just like the rest of the mass media.
It ain't just pictures thats being used as propaganda
respected news agency Reuters (??)
Riiiiiight..
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