Sunday, August 06, 2006

Reuters Fake Photo Scandal - How Deep Does It Go?

On the Reuters fake photo scandal, Reuters has admitted the obvious which is that the photo is doctored and fake. They have also fired the Lebanese based photographer who doctored the image. Charles Gordon of LGF has been pretty much the lead in this one and you can see the whole story line unfold here:

It does flow and look a great deal like the Dan Rather 60 Minute "Rathergate Scandal".............

Pajama Media has a very comprehensive list of bloggers covering the story and some good insight as does Wizbang

It's not all that surprising to me that this occurred to be honest................The liberal leaning MSM have always sought out others who share their political convictions when it comes to filling the ranks, whether it be in their news rooms or hiring sub-contractors in foreign lands................This occurred because the MSM is liberally left of center, and in the end has a political agenda that surfaces regardless of how hard they tell themselves and yell out to us that they are "objective" and their person politics do not play a roll in their coverage......................Any logical, objective, plugged-in person knows nothing could be further from the truth.................

The next question in this scandal is how much of Reuters overall work is fake? Is it 5%, 10%, 25%, or greater fake? Reuters has a great deal of work to do, if they ever want to be in a position to try and restore any credibility...................Also we need to know who hired and managed Adnan Hajj, and what were his political activities before and after Reuters hired him. Were there clear signs that Reuters missed signals that should have lead management to question whether Hajj was the activist that he proved to be?

The MSM won't connect the dots on this one, because it requires that they look in the mirror and see themselves................Subscription rates and advertising revenue however don't have such a blind eye.....................

----------------update----------------

This cartoon from Cox & Forkum sums the whole thing up well indeed....................

-----------------update 8/7-----------------------

It goes deep.........Reuters is admitting to more fake photos published by them that Hajj took. YNet has the details:

News organization withdraws photograph of Israeli fighter jet, admits image was doctored, fires photographer. Reuters pledges 'tighter editing procedure for images of the Middle East conflict..........


It's going to take more than that.............