Reuters admits altering Beirut photo

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 YNET August 2006
www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3286966,00.html

A Reuters photograph of smoke rising from buildings in Beirut has been
withdrawn after coming under attack by American web logs. The blogs accused
Reuters of distorting the photograph to include more smoke and damage.

The photograph showed two very heavy plumes of black smoke billowing from
buildings in Beirut after an Air Force attack on the Lebanese capital.
Reuters has since withdrawn the photograph from its website, along a message
admitting that the image was distorted, and an apology to editors.

In the message, Reuters said that "photo editing software was improperly
used on this image. A corrected version will immediately follow this
advisory. We are sorry for any inconvience."

Reuters' head of PR Moira Whittle said in response: "Reuters has suspended a
photographer until investigations are completed into changes made to a
photograph showing smoke billowing from buildings following an air strike on
Beirut. Reuters takes such matters extremely seriously as it is strictly
against company editorial policy to alter pictures."

"As soon as the allegation came to light, the photograph, filed on Saturday
5 August, was removed from the file and a replacement, showing the same
scene, was sent. The explanation for the removal was the improper use of
photo-editing software," she added.

Earlier, Charles Johnson, of the Little Green Footballs blog , which has
exposed a previous attempt at fraud by a major American news corporation,
wrote : "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."

Johnson added: "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."

A series of close ups are then posted on the blog, showing that "it's not
only the plumes of smoke that were 'enhanced.' There are also cloned
buildings." The close ups do appear to show exact replicas of buildings
appearing next to one another in the photograph.

The Sports Shooter web forum , used by professional photographers, also
examined the photo, with many users concluding that the image has been
doctored.

'Looks so obviously doctored'

"I'll second the cloned smoke...but it looks so obvious that I don't know
how the photographer could have gotten away with it," wrote one user.

After further research, Johnson posted a photograph he says is the original
image taken before distortions were made, showing much lighter smoke rising.

Adnan Hajj, the photographer who sent the altered image, was also the
Reuters photographer behind many of the images from Qana - which have also
been the subject of suspicions for being staged.

Other blogs have also analyzed the photographs, and reached similar
conclusions, such as Left & Right , which states: "The photo has been
doctored, quite badly."

The author of the Ace of Spades blog wrote: "Even I can see the very
suspicious "clonings" of picture elements here. And I'm an idiot."

The Hot Air blog also looked at the photo, describing the image as "the
worst Photoshop I have ever seen."

First Published: 08.06.06, 10:41
Latest Update: 08.06.06, 17:12

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