Photo Controversies Of Yore
(CBS/AP)
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August 16, 2006 9:40 AM Last week’s revelations that a freelance Reuters photographer had doctored photos of air strikes on Beirut – apparently to make it seem as though there was more intense smoke and destruction – is still grabbing headlines. (Although at least one critic thinks it should be grabbing more attention than it is.) CNETNews.com reminds us (via Lost Remote) with this slide show of doctored photos that have made the rounds in the past and garnered their own share of controversy -- remember this one?
August 9, 2006 10:21 AM Turns out that news photographers were altering their pictures long before Photoshop arrived on the scene. That’s what Reuters photo editor Gary Hershorn says on the news organization’s blog. Hershorn discussed common photography techniques in reaction to the recent flap that has Reuters embroiled in a story about false and altered images. Here’s Hershorn:
A Short Step From Cleaning To Altering?
(CBS/AP)
News photographers routinely process images using Adobe Photoshop software. But there has been a basic premise in the world of photojournalism that what was allowed in making prints in the pre-digital days of darkrooms is all that is acceptable today.
August 7, 2006 11:10 AM 
We noticed last week that after some bloggers and talk radio hosts aired their suspicions about various news outlets staging photos of the aftermath of Israeli air strikes on Qana, accused news agencies actually responded. In an Associated Press article detailing the accusations, the outlets responded by denying the photos were staged.
While that controversy seems to have dissipated somewhat, questions suggesting that another photo taken during air strikes on Beirut was doctored arose -- and yesterday Reuters pulled the altered photo and said it was no longer accepting pictures from the photographer. According to the Jerusalem Post, the photo "which shows plumes of smoke rising from downtown Beirut after an IAF bombing, appeared to have been doctored to show more intense smoke and destruction over the city." (FishbowlNY has the photo, with and without alterations.) The photographer, Adnan Hajj, "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," according to a Reuters story, which also included a comment from Moira Whittle, the head of public relations for Reuters: "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." Nonetheless, the statement continued: "This represents a serious breach of Reuters' standards and we shall not be accepting or using pictures taken by him."
UPDATE: Reuters has discovered that Hajj altered another photo and has withdrawn from its database all 920 photos taken by the photographer, a move that a Reuters photo editor called "precautionary."
More Questions About Middle East War Photos
(AP)
While that controversy seems to have dissipated somewhat, questions suggesting that another photo taken during air strikes on Beirut was doctored arose -- and yesterday Reuters pulled the altered photo and said it was no longer accepting pictures from the photographer. According to the Jerusalem Post, the photo "which shows plumes of smoke rising from downtown Beirut after an IAF bombing, appeared to have been doctored to show more intense smoke and destruction over the city." (FishbowlNY has the photo, with and without alterations.) The photographer, Adnan Hajj, "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," according to a Reuters story, which also included a comment from Moira Whittle, the head of public relations for Reuters: "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." Nonetheless, the statement continued: "This represents a serious breach of Reuters' standards and we shall not be accepting or using pictures taken by him."
UPDATE: Reuters has discovered that Hajj altered another photo and has withdrawn from its database all 920 photos taken by the photographer, a move that a Reuters photo editor called "precautionary."
June 7, 2006 10:13 AM 
It looks like a couple news organizations are trying to take advantage of the bias charges that are constantly being leveled at the mainstream media.
According to the New York Post, "[t]wo British news organizations believe Americans are so hungry for unbiased coverage that they launched very similar ad campaigns touting their objectivity within days of each other."
The two are Reuters and BBC World News, both of whom have ads that offer two choices about what to make of a major news issue. Reuters, for example, uses an image of a chicken and gives the choices "Global epidemic" or "Global hysteria," presumably in reference to bird flu. (Is "Pointless oversimplification" an option? I guess not.)
"I don't think any skullduggery is involved," Guy Barnett, co-founder of the company that came up with the Reuters campaign, told the Post. "I think everyone recognized there is a group of influential people who are dissatisfied with the level of bias in the news."
Here's something else everyone recognizes, or at least should: Alleging media bias has become an American tradition in recent years, one from which no news organization is immune. Good luck keeping above the fray, guys.
Apple Pie, Baseball, And Bias Charges
(AP)
According to the New York Post, "[t]wo British news organizations believe Americans are so hungry for unbiased coverage that they launched very similar ad campaigns touting their objectivity within days of each other."
The two are Reuters and BBC World News, both of whom have ads that offer two choices about what to make of a major news issue. Reuters, for example, uses an image of a chicken and gives the choices "Global epidemic" or "Global hysteria," presumably in reference to bird flu. (Is "Pointless oversimplification" an option? I guess not.)
"I don't think any skullduggery is involved," Guy Barnett, co-founder of the company that came up with the Reuters campaign, told the Post. "I think everyone recognized there is a group of influential people who are dissatisfied with the level of bias in the news."
Here's something else everyone recognizes, or at least should: Alleging media bias has become an American tradition in recent years, one from which no news organization is immune. Good luck keeping above the fray, guys.
April 4, 2006 5:11 PM
About That Box On The Right…
You'll notice that we've put a box linking to a Reuters panel on the right hand side of the site. The panel, which will take place Wednesday night, concerns whether the media is "telling the real story" in Iraq. I will be attending, and one of the participants will be CBS News' Lara Logan*. If you'd like more information about the event and the panelists, go here, where you can find out more and watch the event live.
As for why we've posted the box, it's a little bit of cross promotion. Reuters has posted a link to Public Eye on their site, and we thought we would link to them as well, since the panel covers ground we think our readers are interested in. Reuters did not pay for the placement, and we did not pay for placement on their site.
*UPDATE: I've just learned that Lara Logan, who is presently in Iraq, will be unable to attend the panel.
As for why we've posted the box, it's a little bit of cross promotion. Reuters has posted a link to Public Eye on their site, and we thought we would link to them as well, since the panel covers ground we think our readers are interested in. Reuters did not pay for the placement, and we did not pay for placement on their site.
*UPDATE: I've just learned that Lara Logan, who is presently in Iraq, will be unable to attend the panel.
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