Reuters drops freelance Lebanese photographer over image

Reuters ^ | 06 Aug 2006 | Reuters

[PajamaTruthMafia]

LONDON, Aug 6 (Reuters) - Reuters, the global news and information agency, told a freelance Lebanese photographer on Sunday it would not use any more of his pictures after he doctored an image of the aftermath of an Israeli air strike on Beirut.

The photograph by Adnan Hajj, which was published on news Web sites on Saturday, showed thick black smoke rising above buildings in the Lebanese capital after an Israeli air raid in the war with the Shi'ite Islamic group Hizbollah, now in its fourth week.

Reuters withdrew the doctored image on Sunday and replaced it with the unaltered photograph after several news blogs said it had been manipulated using Photoshop software to show more smoke.

Reuters has strict standards of accuracy that bar the manipulation of images in ways that mislead the viewer.

"The photographer has denied deliberately attempting to manipulate the image, saying that he was trying to remove dust marks and that he made mistakes due to the bad lighting conditions he was working under," said Moira Whittle, the head of public relations for Reuters.

"This represents a serious breach of Reuters' standards and we shall not be accepting or using pictures taken by him," Whittle said in a statement issued in London.

Hajj worked for Reuters as a non-staff freelance, or contributing photographer, from 1993 until 2003 and again since April 2005.

He was among several photographers from the main international news agencies whose images of a dead child being held up by a rescuer in the village of Qana, south Lebanon, after an Israeli air strike on July 30 have been challenged by blogs critical of the mainstream media's coverage of the Middle East conflict.

Reuters and other news organisations reviewed those images and have all rejected allegations that the photographs were staged.

[Texas Songwriter]

Spermatozoa?

[bnelson44]

Here's another one, from Powerline blog:

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)"

[Candor7]

Why would they want to add these flare trails?

To make it look like the IAF is afraid of SAMs. As far as I know, Hezbollah has no SAMs.

Maybe they want to make someone think that Hezbollah has SAMs?

These are flares,the bombs are forward of the flares in the photo.

Maybe the POS who altered the photos thought they were bombs and was trying to make it look like indescriminate bombing?

These guys are sickos.

[cdnerds]

The photo is from the rocket attacks from hezzbola - the aftermath. Very sad.

[Left2Right]

Access Denied!!!

[JLS]

You will enjoy "Day by Day" too:

http://www.daybydaycartoon.com/2006/08/07/#a003738

[newzjunkey]

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.

At this to the uncanny ability to get an instant 16 ft full color banner of Condi Rice to use in the propaganda war about Qana (discussed by Freepers elsewhere) and one begins to wonder just how much *truth* is involved in anything going on over there.

[Suzy Quzy]

Rhoid-ers.

[Old Student]

"OMG, this is so rich - I just don't know where to begin!"

Oh, come on now, there were reflections from the rocket's red glare of launches into Israel on his monitor, making it very difficult for him to see the smoke plume he accidentally replicated about 30 times...(do I need a sarcasm tag here?)

[Slip18]

Excellent find, CyberAnt!

[b4its2late]

They finally got caught, and they sack the guy.

[Ghost of Philip Marlowe]

Was it Reuters that published that other famous doctored photo of the war? It was a combination of two photographs of an American soldier trying to get someone to sit down and an Iraqi appearing to be pleading with him.

[expatguy]

LOL even more - the hole goes deep

An American Expat in Southeast Asia

[sasha123]

LOL!

[keat]

Lebanese children flee Israeli air raid on Beirut's suburbs August 5, 2006. (Adnan Hajj/Reuters)

[BJClinton]

You are so-o-o-o-o-o wrong for that. When the tears clear from laughing I'm going to hit abuse.

So it looks lke al-Reuters has taken all of Adnan Hajj's pictures off their database. Yahoo! still hosts them though:

http://news.search.yahoo.com/news/search?p=Adnan+Hajj&c=news_photos

[Earthdweller]

"Dear Earth, We're sorry we got caught. Sincerely, Reuters"

No problem reuty.

The Earth will be sure to evolve you out of your miserable misfit existence soon.

Earth

[MarcusAurelious]

I have seen live video feeds of Israeli fighters dropping chaff and flares.

While Hez/Hizbollah may not have SAMs (I think they do), they do have SAM radars, and the pilots are playing it safe.

Before Somalia, who would have thought an RPG would bring down a Blackhawk?

As low as some of those fighters are flying, I'd be willing to bet some Hezzie punk has tried to launch an anti-tank missile at a fighter, and many of those are heat-seeking.

I believe you are correct that the Hezzies would like to protray the IDF as afraid.

[ElkGroveDan]

looking at the unaltered photo, I am somewhat surprised he bothered to alter it. There is plenty of dark smoke, if that is what he wanted.

Look at the contrast in the before and after -- especially the buildings. Looks to me like he tried to crank up the contrast to make the smoke look darker. He wasn't happy with that and then proceeded to clone the smoke and left the contrast too high.