Reuters Doctoring Photos from Beirut? [photo inside]

Little Green Footballs ^ | 8-5-2006

[Hadean]

OK, now things are getting weird.

This Reuters photograph shows blatant evidence of manipulation. Notice the repeating patterns in the smoke; this is almost certainly caused by using the Photoshop “clone” tool to add more smoke to the image. (Hat tip: Mike.)

It’s so incredibly obvious, it reminds me of the faked CBS memos. Smoke simply does not contain repeating symmetrical patterns like this, and you can see the repetition in both plumes of smoke. There’s really no question about it.

Smoke billows from burning buildings destroyed during an overnight Israeli air raid on Beirut’s suburbs August 5, 2006. Many buildings were flattened during the attack. REUTERS/Adnan Hajj

[MeneMeneTekelUpharsin]

" The message, sent from a Reuters internet account, read: "I look forward to the day when you pigs get your throats cut."

Death to Hezbollah and their operatives everywhere (no joke).

[Toskrin]

The outlining around the edge of the man in the photo looks like "mosquito noise". It is an artifact produced by the compression scheme used by JPEG. Unfortunately, the JPEG image format alters the original image, producing artifacts like the one seen around the edge of the man. When you can see 8x8 pixel squares that look discontinuous with their surroundings, it is almost always a JPEG artifact.

The original bombing photo, on the other hand, is a fake.

[enufisenuf]

It's absolutely appalling that the people in charge don't look out for this.
Do they care is the real question. What's getting by as "news" is really upsetting.
You would think that it would be part of the job to find out if pictures are authentic, especially in this day and age when it's so easy to doctor anything by using photo-shop.
Let the reader beware!
It seems it would be feasible to take any picture and alter it to portray whatever you want and submit it to a news agency and some one, some where, would print it.
Scary!

[enufisenuf]

Hey thanks for the laugh of my day!

[Chode]

hell yeah...

[bc4gwb]

PICTURE KILL FOR LBN20 TRANSMITTED AT APPROXIMATELY 1408GMT ON AUGUST 5, 2006. PHOTO EDITING SOFTWARE WAS IMPROPERLY USED ON THIS IMAGE. A CORRECTED VERSION WILL IMMEDIATELY FOLLOW THIS ADVISORY. PLEASE REMOVE THE IMAGE FROM YOUR SYSTEMS. WE ARE SORRY FOR ANY INCONVENIENCE. REUTERS LBN20

ATTENTION EDITORS: THIS IS A CORRECTED FILE OF LBN20. REUTERS HAS ISSUED A KILL OF THE PREVIOUS VERSION. Smoke billows from burning buildings destroyed during an overnight Israeli air raid on Beirut's suburbs August 5, 2006. Picture taken August 5, 2006. REUTERS/Adnan Hajj (LEBANON)

[TruthShallSetYouFree]

Congratulations to all the great contributions on this thread. We have achieved victory over what I will now name:
PHOTOSHOPAGANDA.

[GeorgiaDawg32]

ROFL..he's like green helmet guy..onsite at every disaster..:)

[Huck]

The phrase "lamestream media" has been around on the net at least as far back as 1999:

(http://64.233.187.104/search?q=cache:4STAu0fL1NQJ:https://listserv.icsalabs.com/pipermail/firewall-wizards/1999-July/006023.html+lamestream+media+1999&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=2)

Maybe goes back further than that. Hmm, let's see, delusions of grandeur, taking credit for stuff you didn't do....Billybob, yer a natural for public office!

[conservatism_IS_compassion]

You don't really need side by side evidence with the "original" to see that the repeating patterns in this smoke do not appear natural in any way but I'll agree with you that no one will admit that there's definitive proof of this alteration until and unless and original is displayed.

There ought to be a way of overlaying the negative image of the pattern which has been repeated on top of the places to which it has been copied. Line it up perfectly, and the smoke should disappear perfectly - leaving a pure gray or black area with essentially no character to it at all.

More to the point, there is the question of ground truth - prove that there is (or is not) bomb damage everywhere that the smoke image suggests, and the Photoshop hypothesis can be rejected (or accepted) with high confidence. Are relevant post-attack satellite or aerial recce photos available to compare to the damage pattern suggested in the suspect image?

[ARW3A]

Either the replacement photo was not the starting point for the fake or it too has been f*cked with.

[Congressman Billybob]

Do you have a problem with the word "may"? Accurate understanding begins with accurate reading. You could, if you wanted, research the first time I ever used that phrase. I don't know when it was, but it could be as early as my first postings on FR in 1998.

John / Billybob

[conservatism_IS_compassion]

I would think action would lie. The Israelis should sue Reuters in US court for defamation. The Israelis know whether they dropped bombs in a way which could not have caused that smoke pattern, and they will have after-action recce photos which will prove or refute the suggestion that multiple bombs were dropped at the indicated location.

I would also think that the CIA would know if whether or not this photo is fraudulent, and it is the business of the govenment to substantiate its own policy which is to support Israel diplomatically. So the US government should sue Reuters in that case. Either way, the damages sought should not be limited to money but to the cancellation of the propaganda effect of the fraudulent image.

And if the MSM stonewalls, hit them with RICO. Crippling damages for collusion.

[ARW3A]

Helmut guy returns!!!!!!


http://news.yahoo.com/photos/ss/events/wl/080601mideast/im:/060806/ids_photos_wl/r2950470440.jpg;_ylt=AmsFuO1ryMl11060.FA0iVOaK8MA;_ylu=X3oDMTA5bGcyMWMzBHNlYwNzc25hdg--

[Irish_Thatcherite]

Maybe Reuters just wanted to make things look 'disproportionate'!! :P

[Congressman Billybob]

Feel free to research the first time I ever used that phrase on FR, or on various other websites. I lack the research skills to trace that down. Obviously, you have those skills. You WILL report back honestly, won't you?

I did a Google search and found 226 hits, but I could not rank them by year of posting.

John / Billybob

[Irish_Thatcherite]

Definitely cloning.

[Uncledave]

Could be a stretcher, or those flat boards they use to immobilize trauma patients