Reuters withdraws all photos by freelancer (920 in total)

[The Straight Story]

Reuters withdraws all photos by freelancer
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Aug 7, 12:20 PM (ET)

LONDON (Reuters) - Reuters withdrew all 920 photographs by a freelance Lebanese photographer from its database on Monday after an urgent review of his work showed he had altered two images from the conflict between Israel and the armed group Hizbollah.

Global Picture Editor Tom Szlukovenyi called the measure precautionary but said the fact that two of the images by photographer Adnan Hajj had been manipulated undermined trust in his entire body of work.

"There is no graver breach of Reuters standards for our photographers than the deliberate manipulation of an image," Szlukovenyi said in a statement.

"Reuters has zero tolerance for any doctoring of pictures and constantly reminds its photographers, both staff and freelance, of this strict and unalterable policy."

The news and information agency announced the decision in an advisory note to its photo service subscribers. The note also said Reuters had tightened editing procedures for photographs from the conflict and apologized for the case.

Removing the images from the Reuters database excludes them from future sale.

More at link:


http://reuters.myway.com/article/20060807/2006-08-07T162044Z_01_L06301298_RTRIDST_0_NEWS-MIDEAST-REUTERS-DC.html
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EDIT: COPYRIGHT. PLEASE POST ONLY 4 OR 5
PARAGRAPHS FROM THE COPYRIGHTED NEWS SOURCE
PER DU RULES.

[tocqueville]

1. but they didn't fire THIS photographer

as presented on world's media


in reality

I bet he was promoted

[eallen]

2. The freepers are going nuts over this. I don't know why.

Or I guess I should say, "more nuts."

They have almost a conspiracy-like theory of how the media works. Then, poking a hole in something small, they believe it proves all their own spin. I hope most people realize that photos are sensationalistic by their nature. Maybe the freepers just have difficulty reading, and interpreting what comes in from a variety of sources.

[tocqueville]

3. They forgot about the pictures of "downtown Baghdad" last fall

taken in turistic Turkey by one their representatives running for elections somewhere in California... debunked at DU over one night in a collective effort...

some have a short memory...

what I understand of this story, the guy wasn't after FORGING pictures, like the examples above. He just added little dramatic... it probably wasn't necessary anyway...

[Renew Deal]

9. I think DU's bias prevented DU from debunking this too.

We should have found this first.

[Lone_Star_Dem]

5. They're just that desperate.

It has to really suck hard to be on that side.

[Junkdrawer]

4. This is the fifth thread. Here's the before and after of the picture...

that started the GIANT controversy...

Before:


After:

[Sapphocrat]

6. If they didn't fire him for fraud...

...they should have fired him for crappy work. My cat could do a better job with Photoshop than this idiot.

One of the worst fakes I've ever seen.

[Sinti]

7. So he blackened the smoke increased the contrast and sharpened it

First picture is actually better - I don't feel the second one is any more dramatic - ugly is ugly. He should have done a better job though, if he was going to do it. :shrug: I suspect many pics of being altered somewhat to fit the mood they're trying to create anyway - manufactured news/infotainment and all.

[Renew Deal]

8. It's just a dumb move

The original was bad enough. But obviously the photographer had an agenda and it wasn't the truth.

[Junkdrawer]

10. I emailed DemocracyNow and asked them to interview Adnan Hajj...

I'd like to hear his side of the story...

This whole incident is a mystery. But I'll tell what: there's now 920 photos of war torn Lebanon that won't appear in newspapers or magazines and that makes *someone* happy.