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.

[Deagle]

One Photographer down and 37 to go... Now let's get to the news reporters... I think that there are only about 17 that are terrorist supporters...

[Captain Peter Blood]

Reuters "USED" to have standards but that way back in the day when Julius Reuters ran the company.
Today the company is blatantly very Left-Wing and would have continued to use photographs, etc. to manipulate the news if it hadn't been caught. This is like the 3rd or 4th time Reuters has been caught using altered material in their news distribution in the last couple of years.
Will not trust anything Reuters has to say anymore than I would trust the BBC in what it puts out!!!!!!!!!

[mewzilla]

I'd like to know where this pic was taken. From what vantage point. I've taken pics in a sandstorm that I didn't need to retouch.

[Dallas59]

RACISM!

[kcmt01]

GREAT links! As far as the burning Koran is concerned, the only way to get that flame pattern is to soak it first in lighter fluid or gasoline. And let's keep an eye on the wailing woman; she might just appear as Green Hat's leading lady in the next major production.

[TomGuy]

"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.”
— Yaakov Lappin, August 6, 2006 Jerusalem Post


So, his 'suspension' may just be temporary -- until the 'investigation' is complete (or until the ruckus dies down).

[Raycpa]

[Zarro]

I know where to begin: let's file that statement right up there with "it was a wardrobe malfunction".

[teacherwoes]

>Reuters withdrew the doctored image on Sunday and replaced it with the unaltered photograph

Has anyone seen this unaltered photo?

[humblegunner]

No! It's a real photo I tell you!

[mewzilla]

That guy gets around!

[Enterprise]

"This represents a serious breach of Reuters' standards..."

Translation: Those damned pajamahadeen caught us again!

[Hound of the Baskervilles]

'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," "

Eye roll. Baloney. If the lighting was so bad how could he even see that there were dust marks that needed removing. The light comes FROM the monitor. You don't need any light in the room at all to see the MONITOR. And you don't need room light to see the cut and paste function. It is not on the keyboard it is on the menu bar on the monitor.

[dennisw]

Reuters "USED" to have standards but that way back in the day when Julius Reuters ran the company.

The real kicker is this anti Semitic propaganda outfit was started by a Jew.  Julius Reuters was born Jewish though converted to Christian later in life

[thoughtomator]

And the uber-gullible editor who accepted the pictures? Will this kind of professional malpractice go on, with different photographers?

[4Liberty]

How many more of Mr. Hajj's photos will be doctored or staged?

How many already HAVE been? Esp. of injured civilians, etc.

[Raycpa]

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

The photo's were not staged, just the events the photo's depicted.

[grimalkin]

"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.

*ahem*

Want to buy a bridge?

[TomGuy]

So, where's Mothra?????


LOL

[SeaBiscuit]

Yep, Insult after injury.