Disturbing, though I guess I shouldn't be too surprised. It's one of the reasons why I stear clear more often than not of Middle East crap. I'll take a stab here and there, but it really is hard to decifer at times truth from fiction when it comes to Israel and it's Middle Eastern enemies.

It's just a fucking mess that I don't think will ever get peacefully resolved. The question I guess that irks at me is how involved the U.S. will be in the mess. Perhaps that's a bit selfish and isolationist, but honestly I can't stand this fucking conflict there anymore. People fire on Israel without regard to the innocent, they of course have a right to defend themselves, and consequently they turn around and bomb the shit out of their enemies without mercy and without regard. It's just a fucking mess.

___________________
Whence September dusk grows crisper still,
with leaves all crimson conquered,
I yearn to shout,
and dance about,
and stick pickles in my honker...

Is it any different to sources in America saying 20,000 people were thought dead in the World Trade Centre? How do you know it's not simply an estimate? (After all, it's not like they continued to push the figures when they did know how many people had died) Of course it could very well be a deliberate attempt to sway people's opinions of the conflict.

As for the photographer, not sure what his motivations were (probably more to do with his ego than any political beliefs) Not really sure why he felt the need to add more smoke to that picture but you must be blind if you can't see it's been doctored!!! I could doa better job than that! As for the plane, I think he's just a little down that he's not managed to shoot any good action shots (it's not like Israeli jets haven't been firing missiles into Lebanon is it?!)

One thing you have to realise about all media is that in one way or another they all attempt to sensationalise their stories, quite simply to make them more interesting. I would guess that the vast majority of the time for the big media companies, when they do this it's not because they're pushing an agenda, but more that they're pushing for extra customers...

quote:

Originally posted by George Smiley Is it any different to sources in America saying 20,000 people were thought dead in the World Trade Centre? How do you know it's not simply an estimate? (After all, it's not like they continued to push the figures when they did know how many people had died) Of course it could very well be a deliberate attempt to sway people's opinions of the conflict.

I was thinking the same thing. And also communication in Lebanon is shit right now cause the IDF bombed everything.

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More irregularities here:

http://drinkingfromhome.blogspot.co...ut-edition.html

To me all of this obvious doctoring and manipulation is just another case of Middle Eastern Arabs shooting themselves in the foot. The poor Labanese civilians already had the sympathy of the majority of people in the outside world, yet with stories such as these, people will think twice before donating money to helping the victims or participate in peace-rallies.

quote:

Originally posted by trancaholic More irregularities here: http://drinkingfromhome.blogspot.co...ut-edition.html To me all of this obvious doctoring and manipulation is just another case of Middle Eastern Arabs shooting themselves in the foot. The poor Labanese civilians already had the sympathy of the majority of people in the outside world, yet with stories such as these, people will think twice before donating money to helping the victims or participate in peace-rallies.

Everytime England play abroad, every British newspaper and freelance photographer get groups of England fans to cheer for England while they pose for the cameras. These pictures then appear next to the latest headlines about trouble kicking off between the hooligans. I'm gonna stick my neck out and say every media company that has ever existed has been guilty of this and to portray this as some kind of Arab phenomena is somewhat unfair, particularly when the two companies that have been mentioned on this thread are Routers and the BBC. I would imagine most photojournalists out there are looking for 'cool' action shots, and none will be above bending the rules slightly...

International reporterts are escorted in Lebanon by Hizbulla "press officers" who tell them where & when to take pictures.

sources:

"Lifting the Cover of the Hezbollah PR Effort"
http://www.cjrdaily.org/politics/li...the_hezbo_1.php

http://www.mediaresearch.org/cybera...b20060720.asp#1


"Hezbollah's Nazi Tactics" (4 pages)
http://www.nysun.com/article/36717?page_no=1


and regarding Qana accident:

"Milking it? "
http://eureferendum.blogspot.com/20...milking-it.html

"Was Qana staged? "
http://www.outsidethebeltway.com/ar...as_qana_staged/
http://web.israelinsider.com/Articl...lomacy/8997.htm

---------
also detailed information about various biased and unacurate reports can be found at:
http://www.camera.org/
"CNN Anchor Charges Israel Intentionally Allowing Hezbollah Rockets to Hit"
http://www.camera.org/index.asp?x_c...&x_article=1172
http://www.camera.org/index.asp?x_c...&x_article=1174
"A BBC Fable"
http://www.camera.org/index.asp?x_c...&x_article=1161

___________________

Best Album Ever:
* Infected Mushroom - B.P.Empire

Last edited by Flotser on Aug-07-2006 at 22:04

quote:

Originally posted by George Smiley Everytime England play abroad, every British newspaper and freelance photographer get groups of England fans to cheer for England while they pose for the cameras. These pictures then appear next to the latest headlines about trouble kicking off between the hooligans.

While misleading (and I agree that this sort of unrelated-picture-with-news manipulation is very widespread), I think that there is quite a leap to literally manipulating pictures, writing captions that are outright lies, and exaggerating death tolls. (Btw. how much faith can be put into the "23 being children" bits of info that accompanies Lebanese death tolls? If they don't even have the bodies (for an accurate count), how can they know how many were children?)

quote:

Originally posted by George Smiley I'm gonna stick my neck out and say every media company that has ever existed has been guilty of this and to portray this as some kind of Arab phenomena is somewhat unfair,

I wasn't refering to media lies as being an Arab phenomenon. I was refering to the propensity to shoot oneself in the foot, as being an often observed trait of Arabs.

quote:

Originally posted by George Smiley particularly when the two companies that have been mentioned on this thread are Routers and the BBC.

Clearly, each has egg on its face. It doesn't make the actions of the photographer(s) and officials on the ground in Lebanon any less stupid, though.

Reuters fired a photogropher caught photoshoping

http://edition.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/m...reut/index.html

___________________

"Let me guess, you picked out yet another colorful box with a crank that I'm expected to turn and turn until OOP! big shock, a jack pops out and you laugh and the kids laugh and the dog laughs and I die a little inside.".

quote:

Originally posted by Goashem Reuters fired a photogropher caught photoshoping http://edition.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/m...reut/index.html

psst, Shakka covered that in his first post.

And about the photoshopping that doesn't surprise me anymore much like the U.S. manipulates the news here in the states by twisting their stories.

An interesting perspective on the matter, and it puts such fabrications in a different light:

quote:

Exploiting the Reuters incident It is indisputably wrong for a media outlet to alter photographs or other information so as to falsely represent what is being reported. That is beyond dispute. Yet for three straight days now (and still going strong), the right-wing blogosphere has been wallowing in a self-celebratory swarm because two photographs taken in Lebanon and published by Reuters were found to have been altered using Photoshop by the freelance photographer who submitted them. Rush Limbaugh has now joined the party, decreeing that "Reuters ought to be investigated." (The frequency with which Bush supporters call for media organizations to be investigated because of what they report is itself notable.) Given the intensity and duration of the blogospheric mob scene fueled by the Reuters discovery, one would think that this event demonstrates some sort of important point beyond the particular photographer's poor judgment or deliberate deceit. But it is difficult to see what the point might be, to put it mildly. The alterations made to the original Beirut photograph appear to have increased the amount of smoke one sees in the photo, taken after a Beirut bombing raid, but the amount of smoke in the original unaltered photograph is itself quite substantial. Israel really is bombing Lebanon; buildings really are being destroyed; many Lebanese civilians really are dying; and nobody who is serious disputes any of that. These excited bloggers seem to be using the Reuters incident to try to "prove" that the dreaded "mainstream media" -- and Reuters has long been a special target for many extremists on the right (who sometimes refer to it as "al-Reuters") -- is hopelessly biased against Israel and in favor of Islamic terrorists, including Hezbollah, and that nothing the MSM reports about this war, or anything else for that matter, can be trusted. Many of these bloggers appear to hope that this incident will call into question the reliability of all reporting on the war outside of YTNews and Fox, including what happened in Qana, Lebanon, and any reports that reflect negatively on the Israeli war effort. But Reuters hardly has a monopoly on scandals of this sort. Quite the contrary, examples of photographic alterations and political distortions of evidence are abundant. The blogger TBogg today documents two instances of photographic manipulation -- one from the Bush-Cheney '04 campaign, which cloned members of the military in the audience while the president was speaking, and another that used Photoshop to falsely depict John Kerry at an antiwar rally next to Jane Fonda. And then there was the complete misquoting by Fox News' Carl Cameron of John Kerry at the height of the 2004 campaign: "Move over Dan Rather, Fox News' Carl Cameron is joining you in the hoaxer hall of shame. Fox News' Web site posted a story written by its top political reporter yesterday with made-up quotes that painted Democratic presidential contender John Kerry as a spa-going girly-man." Ironically, one of the anti-Reuters lynch mob leaders, Little Green Footballs, defended Fox's publication of false Kerry quotes by arguing that Fox "pulled the article down and apologized for it the same day. That is, of course, how a responsible news organization handles a situation like this" (emphasis added). That, of course, is precisely what Reuters did with the altered photographs. In fact, the agency went much further by removing all of the photographs and announcing it will never use that photographer again. Fox, by contrast, refused to remove Cameron from covering the Kerry campaign and continues to employ him. Worse, Fox excused itself by claiming that publication of the fake quotes "occurred because of fatigue and bad judgment, not malice." And then there is the still-unsolved mystery of the identity of the pro-Iraq war advocates who created forged documents purporting to prove that Iraq sought 500 tons of uranium oxide ("yellow cake") from Niger -- complete fiction that made its way into Senate and presidential briefings, and then into the president's State of the Union address, helping to sell the invasion of Iraq. By all means, misleading photographs and other fabrications should be documented and exposed. But such scandals typically reflect little about anything beyond the culpable individuals involved. -- Glenn Greenwald http://www.salon.com/politics/war_r...gers/index.html

I agree with what Glenn noted in his opening remarks about these photos - there is no excuse for them. But the supposed "hysteria" by the Wingers about this incident really isn't anything new, and it fits their larger war on the mainstream media in of itself. Of course when you shine the same light on them for similar deceits like those mentioned above, they run for cover.

Just a little something to munch on.

___________________
Whence September dusk grows crisper still,
with leaves all crimson conquered,
I yearn to shout,
and dance about,
and stick pickles in my honker...

It's interesting what news reporters believe they can get away with.



Good eye on the blogsphere!

___________________
"...End? No, the journey doesn't end here. Death is just another path...one that we all must take.
The grey rain-curtain of this world rolls back, and all change to silver glass...and then you see it...
...white shores...and beyond...the far green country under a swift sunrise."