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Reuters drops freelance Lebanese photographer over image
Reuters ^ | 06 Aug 2006 | Reuters

Posted on 08/06/2006 2:51:43 PM PDT by 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.


TOPICS: Breaking News; Israel; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: 2006israelwar; 4thestate5thcolumn; adnanhajj; alreuters; antisemites; arabstreet; biasmeanslayoffs; buckheadismyhero; bullzogby; communisttrick; congame; d; daralislam; denydenydeny; dhimmis; drivebymedia; dustypixels; enemedia; fabrication; fakebutaccurate; fakephotos; fauxtography; fired; fraudtography; goebbelswouldbeproud; gramsci; greenhat; greenhelmet; greenhelmetguy; haj; hajj; hezbollah; idiots; islam; islamoganda; israel; lebanon; leftistsubversion; lgf; makingitup; mediabias; mediajihad; mediawar; mediawarwaronerror; middleeast; mohamedanmedia; msm; msmwoes; muhammadsminions; muslim; nme; pajamahadeen; pajamapeoplerule; photoshop; picturekill; pingdanrather; powerghraib; propaganda; proterrorist; qana; ratherbiased; reuterbias; reutergate; reuters; reuterschmoiters; revisionisthistory; rotoreuters; rotorooters; terrorists; terrorsympathizers; traitors; treason; trysellingthetruth; waronerror; whywefight; zogbyism; zot
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To: PajamaTruthMafia
WTF??

Boy, this Hajj fella was busy staging plenty photographs. So he got there just in time to snap this picture of a 50% burned Koran, eh?


81 posted on 08/06/2006 3:42:03 PM PDT by right-wingin_It
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To: PajamaTruthMafia

82 posted on 08/06/2006 3:42:04 PM PDT by Dallas59
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To: humblegunner

You are the best, ROTFLMAO.


83 posted on 08/06/2006 3:42:24 PM PDT by oxcart (Journalism [Sic])
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To: PajamaTruthMafia

Reuters has strict standards of manipulation of images
They must be doctored in such a way that won't cause suspicion. "Don't get caught" says Reuters handbook covering spinning, doctoring and deceit.


84 posted on 08/06/2006 3:44:44 PM PDT by Joan Kerrey
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To: Dallas59

That photo isn't quite right either, Dallas. I clearly see two objects that should be natural but have obviously been touched up by human hands .... right by the letters "IDF".


85 posted on 08/06/2006 3:49:39 PM PDT by TheSpaceCoyote (Liberals are guilty of everything they accuse conservatives of.)
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To: humblegunner
Glad to see Harry Potter on the job. Voldemort and his Death Eaters are on the march again.
86 posted on 08/06/2006 3:50:49 PM PDT by Irish Eyes
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To: John Jorsett
The most important thing is to log all changes, of course. It isn't required, but a crippled version would reduce the temptation to cheat, and it would let the photographer know exactly what the standards of the news organization are regarding manipulation, because the standards are the limitations of the software.

I also think it is a process issue, to split the photographer from the image manipulation as part of checks and balances, the way an editor position is supposed to work. News organizations should handle images the way banks handle money. Bank employees can't just grab handfulls of money out of the safe. There is a process that always will involve other prople and a paper trail. Here, the standards are the process. Circumventing the process violates the standards. Honest employees, which most are, use the process and are in no danger.

If information and trust is your business, you take it more seriously than Reuters is.

87 posted on 08/06/2006 3:51:51 PM PDT by Vince Ferrer
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To: TheSpaceCoyote
That's just a conspiracy theory...;-)
88 posted on 08/06/2006 3:52:08 PM PDT by Dallas59
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To: PajamaTruthMafia
Reuters has strict standards of accuracy that bar the manipulation of images in ways that mislead the viewer.

Oh dear; I laughed so hard I almost fell off my chair! The thought of Reuters having any "strict standards of accuracy" is truly laughable!

89 posted on 08/06/2006 3:57:16 PM PDT by hsalaw
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To: humblegunner
humblegunner Good photo, I'm sure we can use it. We just removed a few dust specks using Photoshop to enhance the effect of the rescue effort against the monstrous Zionists. Reuters Bureau Chief
90 posted on 08/06/2006 3:59:32 PM PDT by Da Mav
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To: right-wingin_It

Good catch!! That has to be one of the most obviously staged photos yet..... no way a photographer shows up just at the instant a Koran is so conveniently 1/2 burned. A few seconds later and it would all be gone..... a few seconds earlier and he would have been able to rescue the precious Koran. Oh, yes, maybe it is just the serendipity of being a great wartime photographer that allows for an image like that one.


91 posted on 08/06/2006 4:00:55 PM PDT by Enchante (Democrats do want to see victory in the War on Terror.......just not for our side........)
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To: jimbo123

thanks- I threw them all an email

I don't expect to hear back from them.....

;-)


92 posted on 08/06/2006 4:02:55 PM PDT by eeevil conservative (JOHN BOLTON FOR PRESIDENT)
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To: paudio

Lots of examples here:

http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/farid/research/digitaltampering/


93 posted on 08/06/2006 4:03:32 PM PDT by FreedomCalls (It's the "Statue of Liberty," not the "Statue of Security.")
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To: mewzilla
If you know anything about photography it is a digital photo. Film photo reproduction might be subject to bad indexing during multiple print exposures, but digital has no such limitation.

BS Through and through. Reuters knows better and is just using it as an excuse. This is similar to the superscript argument on the Rathergate memos, yes it is posiblesomeone could have done it, bit it would take Herculean effort to make hose kinds of errors.
94 posted on 08/06/2006 4:03:43 PM PDT by Woodman ("One of the most striking differences between a cat and a lie is that a cat has only nine lives." PW)
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To: PajamaTruthMafia

Reuters is just miffed that they got caught.

Chalk up another one for the blogosphere. The REAL media of the 21st century...and beyond.


95 posted on 08/06/2006 4:06:18 PM PDT by prairiebreeze (I am a proud friend of Israel. We're all Jews now.)
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To: PajamaTruthMafia

The suspicion of doctoring these photos was posted yesterday
on FR. I beleive it was Little green footballs but regardless
the Freeper poster was ahead of everyone else!


96 posted on 08/06/2006 4:06:28 PM PDT by ChiMark
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Al-Reuters -- The DUmmies Guide to Making a Small Fortune Out of a Big Fortune.
Another (Last Century Dinosaur) One Bites The Dust


97 posted on 08/06/2006 4:07:38 PM PDT by StAnDeliver (Reuters end-game pic for posteriority...unfortunately for Al-Reuters, this puppy ain't Photoshopped.)
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To: PajamaTruthMafia; martin_fierro

Someone needs to photoshop a litle "Will ululate for cash" sign to hang around her neck...either that or put a Heineken in each hand!


98 posted on 08/06/2006 4:08:02 PM PDT by Dutchgirl (Don't mess with Knesset.)
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To: Political Junkie Too
Reuters is standing by the Qana photos by using the reaction to this photo as proof that they are honest.

A variation of the "limited hangout" technique.

99 posted on 08/06/2006 4:09:23 PM PDT by Prince Caspian (Don't ask if it's risky... Ask if the reward is worth the risk)
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To: LibSnubber

"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."

"Yeahhhh.....that's the ticket!


100 posted on 08/06/2006 4:10:11 PM PDT by Carl LaFong ("I shot that fat barkeep!!")
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