Adnan Hajj photographs controversy

The Adnan Hajj photographs controversy (also called Reutersgate) involves digitally manipulated photographs taken by Adnan Hajj, a Lebanese freelance photographer based in the Middle East, who had worked for Reuters over a period of more than 10 years. Hajj's photographs were presented as part of Reuters' news coverage of the 2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict, but Reuters have admitted that at least two were significantly altered before being published.cite news| title=Reuters toughens rules after altered photo affair| quote=The two photos, both of Israeli military action in Lebanon during the war there last August, were taken by a freelance photographer, Adnan Hajj.

Reuters ended its relationship with Hajj following an initial inquiry soon after bloggers questioned whether the photographs had been digitally altered using Photoshop software. All Hajj's images were removed from the Reuters Pictures sales database.| url=http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSL18678707| publisher=Reuters| date=2007-01-18] [cite news|date=August 6, 2006| url=http://editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1002950988&imw=Y| title=Smoke and Mirrors: Reuters Dismisses Photog Over Doctored Beirut Picture| publisher=Editor and Publisher|accessdate=2006-08-07]

Timeline

The first image was discovered on August 5, 2006 when blogger Charles Johnson of Little Green Footballs wrote that the first image "shows blatant evidence of manipulation" (Adobe Photoshop clone stamp),cite web|date=August 5, 2006| url=http://littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/?entry=21956_Reuters_Doctoring_Photos_from_Beirut&only| title=Reuters Doctoring Photos from Beirut?| publisher=Little Green Footballs| accessdate=2006-08-07] Reuters "killed" the 'photograph' and released a statement that stated Hajj claimed to not have intentionally altered the photo but was trying to remove "dust marks".cite web |date=2007 |url = http://www.famouspictures.org/mag/index.php?title=Altered_Images#Hajj_Controversy_-_2006|title = Famous pictures magazine - Altered Images|format = HTML |publisher = famous pictures| accessdate = 2007-10-03 | last=Lucas, Dean |quote=] Reuters did not stand by the photographer and admitted that Hajj had altered it, saying "photo editing software was improperly used on this image. A corrected version will immediately follow this advisory. We are sorry for any inconvenience."cite web|date=August 6, 2006|url=http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3286966,00.html|title="Reuters admits altering Beirut photo"|publisher=Ynetnews|accessdate=2006-08-07] Head of PR Moira Whittle said: "Reuters takes such matters extremely seriously as it is strictly against company editorial policy to alter pictures."

The second manipulated image was reported by the pseudonymous blogger "Rusty Shackleford" of the blog "My Pet Jawa". [cite web|date=August 6, 2006| url=http://mypetjawa.mu.nu/archives/184206.php| title=Another Fake Reuters Photo from Lebanon| publisher="The Jawa Report"| accessdate=2006-08-07] Reuters captioned it as showing an Israeli F-16 fighter jet firing ground-attack missiles "during an air strike on Nabatiyeh", but the F-16 was actually deploying defensive flares and the original photograph showed only one flare. [cite web|date=August 7, 2006| url=http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3287774,00.html| title="Reuters admits to more image manipulation"| publisher=Ynetnews| accessdate=2006-08-07]

Bloggers also found two photographs by Hajj that appear to show the same scene of destruction, with a distinctive building in the middle background. The Reuters caption on one said "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 other depicted a "Lebanese woman ... [walking] past a building flattened during an overnight Israeli air raid on Beirut's suburbs 5 August 2006." [cite web|date=August 6, 2006| url=http://powerlineblog.com/archives/014919.php| title=Reuters calls the doctor, take 2| publisher=Power Line|accessdate=2006-08-07]

Another blogger found a photograph by Hajj which showed a woman whose apartment he claimed was destroyed by an Israeli bomb on July 22, and another photograph, apparently of the same woman, whose house Hajj claimed was destroyed on August 5. [cite web|date=August 6, 2006| url=http://drinkingfromhome.blogspot.com/2006/08/extreme-makeover-beirut-edition.html| title=Extreme Makeover - Beirut Edition| publisher="Drinking From Home"| accessdate=2006-08-08]

On August 6, Reuters announced it would stop all cooperation with Adnan Hajj.cite news| date=August 8, 2006| url= http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/5254838.stm| title=Reuters drops Beirut photographer| publisher=BBC| accessdate=2006-10-10] . Hajj claimed he had just been trying to remove dust marks, and that he made mistakes due to the bad lighting conditions he was working under. Critics point out that this is impossible, as Hajj's doctored image added an entire plume of smoke, duplicated several buildings, and showed a repeating pattern indicating that one plume of smoke was "cloned" several times. [ [http://www.layoutmag.net/blog/2006/08/bad-photoshopping-saves-day.html Bad Photoshopping saves the day] LAYOUT editor's blog, 14 August 2006]

On August 7, Reuters decided to withdraw all 920 photos by Hajj from sale. As of 11 May, 2008, Reuters has removed all of Hajj's images from its site.On January 18 2007 Reuters reported that an internal investigation into the Adnan Hajj photomanipulation had led to a top Reuters photo editor being fired. [cite news
url=http://www.pdnonline.com/pdn/newswire/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003534746
title=Reuters Investigation Leads To Dismissal Of Editor
author=Daryl Lang
publisher=Photo District News
date=January 18, 2007
accessdate=2007-01-18]

The charges against Hajj took place within a larger context of many allegations about misleading photographs coming out of the Israel-Lebanon conflict; see 2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict photographs controversies.

ee also

* 2006 Lebanon War photographs controversies
* Media coverage of the Arab-Israeli conflict
* Arab-Israeli conflict
* Battle of Jenin
* Ouze Merham
* Pallywood
* Photo manipulation

References

External links

* [http://www.aish.com/movies/PhotoFraud.asp Photo Fraud in Lebanon] on Aish.com
* [http://www.zombietime.com/reuters_photo_fraud/ The Reuters Photo Scandal]
* [http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/farid/research/digitaltampering/ "Digital Tampering in the Media, Politics and Law"] . Recent history of media photo manipulation. Hany Farid, associate professor, Dartmouth College. Last accessed August 7, 2006.
* [http://news.yahoo.com/s/realclearpolitics/20060807/cm_rcp/institutional_failure_at_reute "Institutional Failure at Reuters"] by Thomas Lifson for Yahoo! News, August 7, 2006 (alternate [http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2006/08/institutional_failure_at_reute.html link] ).
* [http://www.laweekly.com/news/news/reuters-image-problem/14170/ "Reuters' Image Problem"] by Brendan Bernhard in the "LA Weekly" online, August 9, 2006.
* [http://acjournal.org/holdings/vol9/summer/articles/fauxtography.html#8 A Concise History of the Fauxtography Blogstorm in the 2006 Lebanon War] by Stephen D. Cooper, Marshall College in the American Communication Journal, Summer 2007