From the WSJ Opinion Archives
Where
There's 'Smoke,' There's a Firing
Reuters finds itself in the middle of the latest journalistic scandal: The wire
service "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." Blogger Charles
Johnson exposed the fake photo, which seemed to show two plumes of smoke
rising from buildings in the Lebanese capital.
The original photo (shown here alongside the altered one) shows one burning building and far less smoke. Johnson analyzed the doctored photo and found repeating patterns, which could only be the result of digital manipulation. Reuters reports on the laughable explanation offered by photographer Adnan Hajj:
"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 explanation is implausible on its face, but it becomes even more ridiculous with the revelation that another Hajj photo was similarly manipulated. This one, first noted by blogger "Rusty Shackleford," purports to show an Israeli F-16 plane firing missiles. In fact, according to Shackleford, they are "flares designed to be a decoy for surface to air missiles." And although the picture purports to show three of these "missiles," in fact two of them are simply copies of the first. YnetNews reports that Reuters has acknowledged this photo was faked as well.
Other Hajj photos carry captions that appear to be inaccurate:
- A Hajj
photo transmitted yesterday carries the caption: "A Lebanese man
runs away from the burning ruins of a building destroyed during an overnight
Israeli air raid on Beirut's suburbs August 5, 2006. Many buildings were
flattened during the attack." But the picture plainly was taken in broad
daylight. As blogger "Bullwinkle"
(no relation to Marshall
Wittmann) quips, the photo's subject must be "the world's slowest
man."
- PowerLineBlog reader Robert Opalecky notes a pair of Hajj photos from a Hezbollah stronghold in Beirut. The caption on the first: "Journalists are shown by a Hizbollah guerrilla group the damage caused by Israeli attacks on a Hizbollah stronghold in southern Beirut, July 24 2006." And the second: "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." The photos, taken 12 days apart, show the same purportedly just-destroyed building.
Nor is it only Hajj. The blog Drinking From Home notes a Reuters photo and an Associated Press photo that both show the same woman, whose home (an apartment according to Reuters, a house according to AP) Israel supposedly has just destroyed. The Reuters photo is dated July 22, while the AP one is dated Aug. 5--two weeks apart.
London's Guardian reports that Reuters has now "withdrawn all photographs taken by Beirut-based freelance Adnan Hajj from its database"--though many of them still appear on Yahoo and other news Web sites:
The news agency has also instituted "a tighter editing procedure" for images of the war in the Middle East conflict after what it calls "the gravest breach" of Reuters standards.
This is a good start, but the problem may go beyond photojournalism. Anti-Israel editorializing can be found in Reuters' text as well, as in this Beirut dispatch by Alaa Shahine:
Israel's definition of Hizbollah targets has included more than 70 bridges, as well as ports, airports, radar stations, television and telephone masts, factories, farms and countless homes pummelled into ruin by 26 days of bombing across Lebanon.
Nor is this only a Reuters problem. YnetNews points to an especially blatant example from the Guardian (second item):
An article in the London-based Guardian, entitled "Militants merge with mainstream," argues that Hizbullah has gained widespread, cross-religious support in the Arab world, and uses terms such as "the Qana massacre" to explain the apparent newfound unity. . . .
The article was co-written by Issandr el-Amrani, a freelance journalist in Egypt who referred to Hizbullah as "Lebanese resistance fighters" on his personal blog and who describes reports of Hizbullah members operating out of civilian areas as "Israeli lies."
(Correction: The "Israeli lies" comment comes from another contributor to el-Amrani's blog.)
We don't mean to gainsay the difficulty of covering the news in an alien culture dominated by terror and tyranny. But too many news organizations are too willing to turn themselves into propaganda outlets. One hopes the Reuters photo scandal will prompt a wider rethinking of the use of free-lancers in places like Lebanon and the disputed territories.
The Camera
Was Found in the Rubble!!
Hey, Adnan Hajj isn't the only guy who knows how to use Photoshop.
Another
Massacre That Wasn't
"Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora said Monday that one person was
killed in an Israeli airstrike on the southern village of Houla, not 40 as he
had earlier reported," CNN reports:
"The massacre in Houla, it turned out that there was one person killed," Reuters quoted Siniora as saying. "They thought that the whole building smashed on the heads of about 40 people . . . thank God they have been saved."
In 2002 the U.N. issued a report debunking Palestinian claims of an Israeli "massacre" at Jenin. As we noted then, the Saudi Arab News responded with "Clintonian evasion: 'The dictionary gives no specific number of dead that is required to constitute a massacre.' "
Indeed, Merriam-Webster defines massacre as "the act or an instance of killing a number of usually helpless or unresisting human beings under circumstances of atrocity or cruelty." And hey, 1 is a number. For that matter, so is zero--and Israel commits an infinite number of null massacres every day!
Nothing
Gets Past Emile Lahoud
"Lebanese President Emile Lahoud, a staunch pro-Syrian and close ally of
Hezbollah, charged that Israel is trying to pressure Lebanon to accept its conditions
for a ceasefire."--Associated Press, Aug. 5
Hezbo
Chutzpah
"A Hezbollah cabinet minister said Saturday his group's guerrillas would
accept a ceasefire only once Israel halts attacks and pulls out of southern
Lebanon," the Australian reports:
"We are in a defence situation. When the Israeli aggression ceases, very simply, we will stop (fighting) on condition that no Israeli soldier remains inside Lebanese land," Energy Minister Mohamad Fneish said.
Israel is seeking the same thing--beginning with the return of the two soldiers whose kidnapping by Hezbollah set off the current battle.
One
Terrorist's Freedom Fighter Is Another's Terrorist
"A top Saudi Sunni cleric, whose ideas inspired Osama bin Laden, issued
a religious edict Saturday disavowing the Shi'ite guerrilla group Hizbullah,
evidence that a rift remained among Muslims over the fighting in Lebanon,"
reports the Associated Press:
Hizbullah, which translates as "the party of God," is actually "the party of the devil," said Sheik Safar al-Hawali, whose radical views made the al-Qaida leader one of his followers in the past.
"Don't pray for Hizbullah," he said in the fatwa posted on his Web site.
It would be nice if there were a way of sending Hezbollah and al Qaeda to another planet where they could settle their differences without bothering the rest of us.
What
Would We Do Without Analyses?
"Analysis: Mideast Conflict Complicated"--headline, Associated Press,
Aug. 4
We
Thought He Was Still Dead
"UN Debates Franco-US Draft on Lebanon"--headline, News.com.au, Aug. 6
Generalissimo
Francisco Franco Is Still Still
"Chevy Chase to Use Speeder Cameras"--headline, Washington Times,
Aug. 5
El
Maximo Bimbo
Merrie Spaeth, a Dallas-based public-relations consultant, gives out a monthly
"Bimbo
award," which her firm's Web site explains:
The criterion for nomination is that the speaker causes the listener to believe exactly the opposite of what is said. The award is a reminder that repeating negative words only reinforces the negative message as well as misses the opportunity to convey the right message to the reader or listener.
The Bimbo Award was created by Merrie Spaeth, former Director of Media for President Reagan at the White House, memorializing the protest of a young lady whose tryst with a well known evangelist some years ago made news around the world. Her comment, "I Am Not A Bimbo," became the headline in scores of newspapers and a cover of People Magazine in 1987.
You get the idea: "I am not a crook." "Stop questioning my patriotism." And this, from the Associated Press: "Cuban Vice President: Fidel Castro Does Not Have Stomach Cancer."
We don't know if Castro has stomach cancer or not, but OncologyChannel.com notes that the incidence of the disease is high in South America. It's not clear if that is true in Cuba as well, but a study published in 1991 found that "stomach cancer mortality among Cuban-born men in the United States is lower than for men in Cuba."
London's Sunday Telegraph reports that physicians "battled for several hours to save the life of the regime's most important patient, Fidel Castro." But curiously, the Telegraph never tells us if the scuffling sawbones were victorious or not. So maybe it's true that Castro doesn't have stomach cancer, and hasn't had it since he had a pulse.
He'll
Go as a Zombie
"Castro Halloween Party Wins Reprieve"--headline, San Francisco Chronicle,
Aug. 5
We
Didn't Know Mountains Were Bad
"Taller Mountains Blamed on Global Warming, Too"--headline, LiveScience.com,
Aug. 4
You
Don't Say
"Cooler Air Brings Relief From Heat Wave"--headline, Associated Press,
Aug. 4
None of Us Are Getting Any Younger
"S.F.'s Homeless Aging on the Street"--headline, San Francisco Chronicle, Aug. 4
"Astronomers Say Universe May Be Bigger and Older"--headline, Los Angeles Times, Aug. 5
Despite
Increasing Crime, Prison Population Declines!
"Mass Pardon for Convicts in Italy Leads to a Crime Wave"--headline,
Independent (London), Aug. 6
Uhhh,
Maybe Because They Don't Like Being in Prison?
"Why Do Prisoners Keep Breaking Out?"--headline, "Good Morning
America" section, ABCNews.com, Aug. 5
News
You Can Use
"Travellers Are Cautioned to Be Aware of French Donkeys That Are Derailing
Trains"--headline, Polish Outlook, August 2006
What
Would We Do Without Studies?
"Study: NYC Street Fairs All the Same"--headline, Associated Press,
Aug. 6
What
Would Teens Do Without Sexual Lyrics?
"Sexual Lyrics Prompt Teens to Have Sex"--headline, Associated Press,
Aug. 7
We're
Pretty Sure It Doesn't Work on Men
"Sen. George Allen Turns to Plan B"--headline, News Virginian (Waynesboro,
Va.), Aug. 6
A
Modest Proposal
"Kobayashi Sets Brat-Eating Record"--headline, Associated Press, Aug. 5
Life
Imitates the Onion
"Onion Spill Shuts Wisconsin Highway"--headline, Associated Press,
Aug. 5
Bottom Stories of the Day
- "N.H. Woman Bakes Cookies on Dashboard"--headline, Associated
Press, Aug. 3
- "Bicyclist Won't Face Misdemeanor Charge"--headline, Seattle
Times, Aug. 5
- "Selah Woman Relieved to Recover Pet Tortoise"--headline, Associated
Press, Aug. 7
- "Iraq Protester Sheehan Returns to Crawford"--headline, Reuters, Aug. 6
Who'll
Govern the Governors?
"The nation's governors are closing ranks in opposition to a proposal in
Congress that would let the president take control of the National Guard in
emergencies without consent of governors," the Associated Press reports
from Charleston, S.C., site of the National Governors Association's annual gathering.
Our instinct would be to side with the governors on this one, but one paragraph of the Associated Press dispatch gives us pause:
"Federalization just for the sake of federalization makes no sense," said Gov. Kathleen Blanco of Louisiana, a Democrat who had rough relations with the Bush administration after the [Hurricane Katrina] disaster last year. "You don't need federalization to get federal troops. . . . Just making quick decisions can make things happen."
Newsbusters.org has a transcript of an October report by NBC's Lisa Myers on Blanco's response to Katrina:
Myers: A key criticism, the governor's slowness in requesting federal troops. She told the President she needed help, but it wasn't until Wednesday that she specifically asked for 40,000 troops. That day, in a whispered conversation with her staff caught on camera, the governor appears to second-guess herself.
Blanco: I really need to call for the military.
Unidentified female aide: Yes, you do. Yes, you do.
Blanco: And I should have started that in the first call.
Myers: Another key mistake, experts say, Blanco's lateness in getting the Louisiana National Guard, which she commands, on the streets to try to establish security.
Apparently "just making quick decisions" is easier said than done.
(Carol Muller helps compile Best of the Web Today. Thanks to Robert Koslover, Cliff Thier, Greg Hartman, Judith Kleinman, Ed Lasky, Taylor Dinerman, Bill King, Ethel Fenig, Ivo Vegter, Michael Segal, Avi Cutler, Monty Krieger, Nick Olson, Vlad Kogan, Brendan Schulman, Ben Lanson, Kathleen Sullivan, Andreas Udby, Gary Petersen, Darren Gold, Jeff Spiegel, Nathan Wirtschafter, Thomas Dillon, Irving Rotter, Michael Zukerman, David Fischer, Scott Offen, Arnaldo Dines, Rick Stratton, Bennett Ruda, Jeffrey Shapiro, Isaac Hecht, Rosanne Klass, Brian O'Rourke, Phil Hord, Dan O'Shea, Max Lebediuk, David Jurewicz, Louis Kastens, Arthur Chrenkoff, Raymond Hull, Jimes Killon, Fred Medero, Mary Jean Hrbacek, Dan Benton, Dave Nemzek, Peter Bylsma, Fran McDonald, Rhonda Cisneros, Don Hubschman, David Chamberlin, Daniel Goldstein, Bruce Goldman, Kyle Kyllan, Elliott Olson, Stefan Sharkansky, Charlie Gaylord, Nicholas Zeisler and Bill Vis. If you have a tip, write us at opinionjournal@wsj.com, and please include the URL.)
Today on OpinionJournal:
- Martin Peretz: The "peace" Democrats are back. It's a dream come true for Karl Rove.
- John Fund: Sen. Harry Reid is doing his best to produce a "do-nothing Congress."
- The Journal Editorial Report: A transcript of the weekend's program on the FOX News Channel.
