posted August 07, 2006 07:08 PM            

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.

Reuters ended its relationship with Hajj on Sunday after it found that a photograph he had taken of the aftermath of an Israeli air strike on suburban Beirut had been manipulated using Photoshop software to show more and darker smoke rising from buildings.

An immediate enquiry began into Hajj's other work.

It established on Monday that a photograph of an Israeli F-16 fighter over Nabatiyeh, southern Lebanon and dated Aug 2, had also been doctored to increase the number of flares dropped by the plane from one to three.

"Manipulating photographs in this way is entirely unacceptable and contrary to all the principles consistently held by Reuters throughout its long and distinguished history. It undermines not only our reputation but also the good name of all our photographers," Szlukovenyi said.

"This doesn't mean that every one of his 920 photographs in our database was altered. We know that not to be the case from the majority of images we have looked at so far but we need to act swiftly and in a precautionary manner."

The two altered photographs were among 43 that Hajj filed directly to the Reuters Global Pictures Desk since the start of the conflict on July 12 rather than through an editor in Beirut, as was the case with the great majority of his images.

Filing drills have been tightened in Lebanon and only senior staff will now edit pictures from the Middle East on the Global Pictures Desk, with the final check undertaken by the Editor-in-Charge, Reuters said.

Hajj worked for Reuters as a non-staff contributing photographer from 1993 until 2003 and again since April 2005. Most of his work was in sports photography, much of it outside Lebanon.

Hajj was not in Beirut on Monday and was not responding to calls. He told Reuters on Sunday that the image of the Israeli air strike on Beirut had dust marks which he had wanted to remove.

Questions about the accuracy of the photograph arose after it appeared on news Web sites on Saturday.

Several blogs, including a number which accuse the media of distorted coverage of the Middle East conflict, said the photograph had been doctored.
http://reuters.myway.com/article/20060807/2006-08-07T162044Z_01_L06301298_RTRIDST_0_NEWS-MIDEAST-REUTERS-DC.html

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The democratic world believes that it is not the terrorists that are to blame, but us. Us, the westerners.
WRONG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And the sooner you eliminate this misconception from your minds, the better.
We are NOT to blame. It is the freaking terrorists and the freaking terrorists only!!!! They are the bad guys. They do not understand concepts like peace, democracy, and respect for human life. They are, pure and simPle, EVIL!!!!! Behind all their political manipulations, if you carefully look at the actions of these MONSTERS, they are EVIL!!

http://www.mideastweb.org/log/archives/00000489.htm

posted August 09, 2006 03:24 PM            

It seems we are being subjected to a propaganda campaign by Hezbollah in collusion with some main stream media services.

Open letter to the mainstream media
Posted: August 9, 2006
1:00 a.m. Eastern
Benjamin Shapiro

Dear mainstream media,

I understand why you report as you do in both the Israel-Hezbollah conflict and the larger war on terror. You believe journalism requires a sort of elegant moral relativism, that telling "both sides of the story" is a necessary prerequisite to "objective" journalism. You don't believe that there can be an objective right or wrong; if you were reporting World War II today, you'd feel obligated to speak to front-line Japanese and Nazi soldiers and discuss the Allies' disproportionate response to the attack on Pearl Harbor and the invasion of Poland.

Since you don't believe in right and wrong, you also don't believe in a bright-line distinction between truth and falsehood. Terrorists are just as believable as American and Israeli officials. Everyone has an equally valid perspective on the truth. Of course, it doesn't hurt that terrorists are more than willing to fabricate juicy stories you can print on Page 1. "Terrorist Kills Civilians" simply doesn't have the same shock value as "American Soldiers Murder Family," even if the second headline is a complete and utter canard. It's easier to win a Pulitzer when you use the fertile imagination of terrorists as reliable sources.

Nonetheless, I feel compelled to offer some advice. It is quite obvious that you do not understand some basic concepts with regard to war. It is also obvious that you do not understand some basic concepts with regard to the state of the world. If you take any of this advice to heart, you may lose your shot at a Pulitzer – but you may restore your own usefulness.

Lesson #1: In a war, civilians die and civilian property is destroyed. Since the days of Napoleon, armies have routinely drawn support from civilian populations. There is no way to win a war without also devastating a certain amount of the civilian population. The more popular the enemy force, the more devastation is necessary. We didn't simply defeat the Japanese military in World War II – we absolutely devastated Japan's ability to make war.

Lesson #2: Terrorists are not fools. They recognize that you are unwilling to accept Lesson #1. They therefore melt into the civilian population, knowing that humane forces (read: American and Israeli) will attempt to avoid civilian casualties. If, however, humane forces have no choice but to kill civilians in order to kill terrorists, terrorists can rely on your sympathy.

Lesson #3: Islamists dissemble. You may love the stories Islamists tell, but don't rely on their truthfulness. You made complete fools of yourselves at Qana after listening to the Syrian-run Lebanese government and Hezbollah terrorists. You made fools of yourselves in Jenin in 2002 after listening to Palestinian Arabs complain of a nonexistent massacre by Israeli forces. "War is deceit," Muhammad stated. Take him at his word.

Lesson #4: Don't expect Muslim journalists from the Middle East to objectively report about Israel or America. Verify first. Trust later. Adnan Hajj is Lebanese, yet Reuters had him taking photos of the current conflict. They were shocked – shocked! – to learn he had blatantly altered those photos to make Israel's campaign look more brutal. Charles Johnson, who exposed Hajj's falsifications, received a death threat from another Reuters employee, who used the e-mail address "zionistpig": "I look forward to the day when you pigs get your throats cut." I'm willing to give odds the sender is Muslim. Any takers?

Lesson #5: Terrorists can read. When you reveal national security secrets during a time of war, assume that you are probably getting American soldiers and American civilians killed.

Lesson #6: War is not about proportionality. Knitting is about proportionality. War is about winning.

Lesson #7: Hatred is not a synonym for justification. Don't pretend that because Islamists hate us, they are justified in that hatred. Yes, Islamists hate America and Israel. So what? Nazis weren't particularly fond of Jews. Just because one group hates another group doesn't mean the first group is justified in its hatred.

posted August 09, 2006 06:33 PM            

The heads up their a$$es appeasers of terrorists, the poseurs of compassion and those on the side of the terrorists against western civilization don't care if the stories and pictures are frauds.

posted August 10, 2006 12:08 AM            

I see you more as an independent or Libertarian...perhaps leaning a little left.

I know you don't like Bush..and that's probably an understatement. Some Republicans don't either. In fact, there are Republicans who don't think Bush is a conservative at all...and conservatism is the backbone of the Republican Party.

If 9/11 had not occurred, Bush would have probably had an uneventful one term in office.

I'm one of the people who believe history will record that attacking the WTC and Pentagon on 9/11 was one of the most stupid things an enemy of the United States ever did. It ranks right up there with the sneak attack on Pearl Harbor by the Japanese...a very bad mistake.

In this case, Bush was the right man for the job....and America seems to always have the right person for whatever happens.