Reuters admits altering Beirut photo

Reuters withdraws photograph of Beirut after Air Force attack after US blogs, photographers point out 'blatant evidence of manipulation.' Reuters' head of PR says in response, 'Reuters has suspended photographer until investigations are completed into changes made to photograph.' Photographer who sent altered image is same Reuters photographer behind many of images from Qana, which have also been subject of suspicions for being staged.

A Reuters photograph of smoke rising from buildings in Beirut has been withdrawn after coming under attack by American web logs. The blogs accused Reuters of distorting the photograph to include more smoke and damage.

The photograph showed two very heavy plumes of black smoke billowing from buildings in Beirut after an Air Force attack on the Lebanese capital. Reuters has since withdrawn the photograph from its website, along a message admitting that the image was distorted, and an apology to editors.

In the message, Reuters said that "photo editing software was improperly used on this image. A corrected version will immediately follow this advisory. We are sorry for any inconvience."

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http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3286966,00.html

Reuters has now admitted that TWO photos taken by photojournalist Adnan Hajj were doctored using PhotoShop. Both photos were examined by blogs over the weekend, especially Little Green Footballs, and experts on the site, and many others, produced proof that both were altered. As stated in the article, Hajj took many of the photographs at Qana, that are accused of having been staged.

This is a major problem with digital photography. It is to easily doctored to protray what the editor or photographer wants to show, rather than what actually took place. Conservatives have been particularly victimized by photoshopping of digital photographs. USA Today recently apologized and pulled a photo of Condi Rice that had been modified to make her look like a wild eyed werewolf. Times Magazine was caught using a photo blasting Ann Coulter that was doctored and had a very misleading caption.

I am no photographer,but the photos looked funny to me. The big question is why a Reuters editor didn't catch this sooner?? Maybe they did but preferred the "editorial' viewpoint the photos presented.

Update: All 920 photographs taken by Hajj have now been removed from Reuter's database.

Ah so! Al-Reuters got caught again, eh? :mrgreen:

Diogenes said:

Ah so! Al-Reuters got caught again, eh? :mrgreen:

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Yep, they have zero credibility in my book.

Here's another one:

Reuters admits to more image manipulation

News organization withdraws photograph of Israeli fighter jet, admits image was doctored, fires photographer. Reuters pledges 'tighter editing procedure for images of the Middle East conflict'
Yaakov Lappin


Reuters has withdrawn a second photograph and admitted that the image was doctored, following the emergence of new suspicions against images provided by the news organization. On Sunday, Reuters admitted that one of its photographers, Adnan Hajj, used software to distort an image of smoke billowing from buildings in Beirut in order to create the effect of more smoke and damage.

The latest image to face doubts is a photograph of an Israeli F-16 fighter jet over the skies of Lebanon, seen in the image firing off "missiles during an air strike on Nabatiyeh," according to the image's accompanying text provided by Reuters.


Reuters has recalled all photos by Adnan Hajj


Rusty Shackleford, owner of the My Pet Jawa web log noted that the warplane in the picture is actually firing defensive flares aimed at dealing with anti-aircraft missiles. In addition, Shackelford says the flares have been replicated by Reuters, giving the impression that the jet was firing many "missiles," thereby distortion the image.

Another manipuated Reuters image


"The F-16 in the photo is not firing missiles, but is rather dropping chaffe or flares designed to be a decoy for surface to air missiles. However, a close up (of) what Hajj calls "missiles" reveals that only one flare has been dropped. The other two "flares" are simply copies of the original," Shackleford wrote. "But what about the 'bombs' in the photo? Here is a close up of them. Notice anything? That's right. The top and bottom "bomb" are the same."

"Reuters has withdrawn from its database all photographs taken by Beirut-based freelance Adnan Hajj after establishing that he had altered two images since the start of the conflict between Israel and the Lebanese Hizbullah group," a statement by the news outlet said.

"Reuters has decided to withdraw all photos taken by freelancer Adnan Hajj after discovering in the last 24 hours that he altered two photographs since the beginning of the conflict between Israel and the Lebanese group Hizbollah," the organization's website told news editors.


'Tighter editing needed'


In its statement, Reuters also said it would apply "tighter editing procedure for images of the Middle East conflict to ensure that no photograph from the region would be transmitted to subscribers without review by the most senior editor on the Reuters Global Pictures Desk."

"Reuters terminated its relationship with Hajj on Sunday after a review of a photograph he had taken of the aftermath of an Israeli air strike on suburban Beirut the previous day found it 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 found on Monday that a second photograph, of an Israeli F-16 fighter over Nabatiyeh, southern Lebanon and dated Aug 2, had been doctored to increase the number of flares dropped by the plane from one to three," Reuters said.


Other Reuters images have been called into question by blogs in the United States. A reader of the Power Line blog wrote: "I don't know if this has been brought to anyone's attention yet, but in a quick search of the authenticated Reuters photographs attributed to Adnan Hajj, I found the following two. One is from July 24 of a bombed out area in Beirut, with a clearly identifiable building in a prominent part of the shot. The second is of the exact same area, same buildings, same condition, with a woman walking past "a building flattened during an overnight Israeli air raid on Beirut's suburbs August 5, 2006."

“There is no graver breach of Reuters standards for our photographers than the deliberate manipulation of an image", Reuters' statement quoted Tom Szlukovenyi, Reuters Global Picture Editor.

A film released on the YouTube video sharing website compares the two images, and appears to show striking similarities between the photograph used by Reuters on both July 24 and August 5.

(08.07.06, 17:15)
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3287774,00.html#n

Heres some that are NOT fake...








Now isn’t that a good lesson to teach your kids?...:roll:

Here's the original photo that was altered. Note the repeating billows of smoke and he even copied additional buildings to make it look like Israel attacked a more densely populated area.

cherokee said:

Heres some that are NOT fake...

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Those photos are a good reminder of what civilization is up against, and they provide a whole new perspective on the "innocent civilian" casualties reported by the other side -- is that a child, or is it a bomb-in-training?

Diogenes said:

Those photos are a good reminder of what civilization is up against, and they provide a whole new perspective on the "innocent civilian" casualties reported by the other side -- is that a child, or is it a bomb-in-training?

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Good point!! Many are claiming that the photographs taken at Qana of the dead by this very same photographer were staged to enhance sympathy for Hezballah.

I'm sure Adnan Hajj is laughing his *** off.

He not happy he was caught lying to promote Islam (Al Tekkaya), but loving the fact that he can finally laugh at how he duped the infidels inside their own infidel media.

Voidwar said:

I'm sure Adnan Hajj is laughing his *** off.

He not happy he was caught lying to promote Islam (Al Tekkaya), but loving the fact that he can finally laugh at how he duped the infidels inside their own infidel media.

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And if it wasn't for the same blog that outed the fake 60 Minutes letter on Bush's National Guard service, Little Green Footballs (LGF), he would have gotten away with it. It seems that Reuter's photoeditors are either incompetent or did not care if a little propaganda was spread, as long as it portrayed their favorite side in a good light.

It's surprising what a piss poor job of image manipulation it is.

Good stuff. Thanks for catching and posting this, and for the pics, all.

lol:

Extreme Makeover - Beirut Edition

Either this woman is the unluckiest multiple home owner in Beirut, or something isn't quite right.


http://drinkingfromhome.blogspot.com/2006/08/extreme-makeover-beirut-edition.html

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The only question now is how much more terrorist propoganda the media has been spewing. The fourth estate is now a ****ing joke bloggers are keeping them honest it's enough to make one sick.

More:

One is from July 24 of a bombed out area in Beirut, with a clearly identifiable building in a prominent part of the shot. The second is of the exact same area, same buildings, same condition, with a woman walking past "a building flattened during an overnight Israeli air raid on Beirut's suburbs August 5, 2006."​

Below is the Hajj photo dated July 24:

The Reuters caption reads: "Journalists are shown by a Hizbollah guerrilla group the damage caused by Israeli attacks on a Hizbollah stronghold in southern Beirut, July 24 2006. (Adnan Hajj/Reuters)"

Below is the Hajj photo dated August 5:

The Reuters caption reads: "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)" - More info at PowerlineBlog

http://www.schnittshow.com/main.html

​

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It is sad, and disgusting at the same time, now I will be very suspicious everytime I see these photos. I was just watching on the news, pictures of mass graves in Tyre, and I now wonder how many of those caskets are indeed filled, makes me ill.

For a laugh (though an unfortunate laugh), check out that video on youtube where the Palestinians are carrying a stretcher with an apparent corpse - except the "corpse" keeps falling off the stretcher and getting back on.

...shoot, can't find that link...will go find it and post it later.

Trajan Octavian Titus said:

The only question now is how much more terrorist propoganda the media has been spewing. The fourth estate is now a ****ing joke bloggers are keeping them honest it's enough to make one sick.

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Why only terrorist propoganada? Why dont you mention the propoganda from the establishment (in this case the IDF and the Isreali goverment)? Is it not just as bad?

PeteEU said:

Why only terrorist propoganada? Why dont you mention the propoganda from the establishment (in this case the IDF and the Isreali goverment)? Is it not just as bad?

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Haven't seen any propoganda from the IDF or Israeli govt. Got a link to an example or two or three?

Here's some more staging for you:



This is from a US News cover. Inside the photo is titled "Lebanon's New Ruins".



Here's the same fellow pointing a gun at the "Israeli destruction". Except guess what??



The destruction caused by Israeli bombs is really a garbage dump that was set on fire.


And even Time magazine gets into the act. Here's a photo of the same guy at the same garbage dump:



Except the caption under this photo is: "The wreckage of a downed Israeli jet that was targeting Hizballa trucks billows smoke behind a Hizballah gunman in Kfar Chima, near Beirut. Jet fuel set the surrounding area ablaze."

Does it ever end?? Makes you wonder if you can trust any news source.