Posted on 02/15/2004 12:27:27 AM PST by KQQL
As a 20-year-old photographer documenting the country's struggle over the Vietnam War, Ken Light snapped the picture of John Kerry at a peace rally in Mineola. It captured the future senator alone at a podium, squinting into the sun.
Light did not photograph Jane Fonda on that warm June Sunday in 1971. The actress, who is reviled by many Vietnam veterans for her vocal stance against the war, did not even attend.
But when opponents of the Democratic presidential hopeful began e-mailing Light's picture to one another four days ago, it depicted Fonda standing by Kerry's side. The photo had been doctored.
Dag Vega, a spokesman for Kerry's campaign, said, "The smear tactics have started already."
The Web site's creator, Ted Sampley, a Vietnam veteran from North Carolina, said he received the doctored photo by e-mail on Wednesday from a woman in Richmond, Va.
"Thought you might want to include this pic on your site," said the note from Loree Siemek, with an attachment called "HanoiJohn.jpg," a takeoff on "Hanoi Jane," the derisive nickname given to Fonda by her critics during the Vietnam era. It is made to look like a newspaper clipping, headlined "Fonda Speaks to Vietnam Veterans at Anti- War Rally," with an Associated Press photo credit. Sampley said he was immediately skeptical, and e-mailed it to some friends who concluded it was faked. He did not post it.
Siemek, 34, reached by phone, said she found the picture on a conservative Internet message board and had no idea it was phony.
(Excerpt) Read more at newsday.com ...
Which is why Freepers should be careful about posting photos. It's one thing to post a composite that is intended as a joke or satire, but it is quite another to pass off one as a real photo. The lefties in the mainstream press will deflect the criticism of Kerry's associations with Fonda and others undermining the war effort by pointing to the documented fake photo.
Call me paranoid but I believe the media is doing that intentionally. That way the other photo sort of gets to be suspicious by default.
I agree with you -- the media finally gets around to covering the Fonda-Kerry connection, and the main focus is on the fake photo. The real photo is mentioned in these articles as an afterthought.
Sure thing.
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