Watching for "photo fraud" from the Mideast

Much attention is being focused on the authenticity of news photos coming out of the conflict in the Mideast in recent weeks. Various Internet blog sites have scrutinized wire service photos and in some cases have correctly identified unethical practices.

A Reuters freelance photographer was found to have digitally manipulated two photos from Lebanon. He added additional columns of smoke to a bombing scene in Beirut, creating a more dramatic picture. Reuters has cut its ties with the photographer and removed several hundred of his images from its archive.

Another type of unethical behavior some news photographers have been accused of is willingly photographing scenes of staged rescues and “fake” victims.

The most talked-about example has to do with the “green helmet guy,” a Lebanese civil defense worker who appeared in numerous wire service photos carrying the body of a 9-month-old bombing victim said to have been pulled from the rubble in Qana.

The Herald-Leader published an Associated Press photo of this scene on the front page July 31. The emotional impact of the photo prompted two readers to write letters to editor, which were published last Sunday, along with the photo, in the Opinions & Ideas section.

Various Internet blog sites have accused the worker of unnecessarily parading the body around and posing with it, giving the news media ample opportunity to photograph this young victim.

Critics — none of whom were at the scene — have called the scene Hezbollah propaganda; at the least, disrespect for the dead child. They say we can’t trust what we see, that news photographers’ judgment is being clouded and influenced by media-savvy locals.

The Associated Press investigated the accusations and determined that the rescue and recovery efforts that day were not staged for the benefit of the news media and its photographers acted appropriately.

In the case of “green helmet guy,” the issue is not as black and white as the media-critical blogging community would have you believe. In my view, the parading of the child’s body was probably excessive and calculated, but it was an actual rescue and recovery operation. It was a real situation, and it was the news photographers’ job to document it.  If photographers had felt uneasy about the situation, they could have noted that in the caption material.   

However, there are other situations that have come to light in the photo coverage from Lebanon that are not acceptable.

One example involves photos of a civilian rescuer shown climbing around in the debris of a bombed building, but then shown in a New York Times photo as an apparently unconscious bombing victim partially buried in rubble. (He was first identified as dead in an online caption, which was later corrected.) 

The Times said the man was injured while searching for victims. I find this photo suspect, once you notice the dust-free body and the man’s cap tucked neatly under his arm. Was the photographer duped into thinking this was a bombing victim?

As Herald-Leader editors sift through dozens of news photos every day and edit them down to the handful of images you see in the daily paper, we place a certain amount of trust in the wire services we use. We trust that photo providers such as the Associtiaed Press and Getty Images will adhere to the highest of ethical standards, both in the field and in the editing process.  (The Herald-Leader doesn’t use Reuters photos.)

The recent ethical lapses that have come to light, and questions about other photos, have caused us to take a harder look at the images being offered from our wire services.

The news media’s credibility is being scrutinized more now than at any time in the 30-some years since I began taking photos for newspapers, and I think it is important to remind readers that we take our public trust seriously. The Herald-Leader’s photographers and photo editors believe that our credibility is our greatest asset as journalists.

We adhere to the code of ethics recently adopted by the National Press Photographers Association.  The Herald-Leader also has its own policy that forbids digital manipulation of photos as well as the inappropriate staging of photos. We don’t want to present an image that in any way fools or misleads a reader.

Our goal as photojournalists is to honestly and fairly document the world around us. The recent breaches in that honesty, real or imagined, will only strengthen our resolve to hold the pictures you see in the Herald-Leader to the highest journalistic standards.

A good account of the recent recent photo controversy can be read at Photo District News web site.

Ron Garrison
Visuals Editor