Reuters Doctoring Photos from Beirut?

The news agency Reuters has withdrawn from sale 920 pictures taken by a photographer after finding he had doctored two images taken in Lebanon.
Bloggers first spotted that smoke on Adnan Hajj's image of the aftermath of an Israeli air strike in Beirut appeared to have been made darker.

A Reuters investigation confirmed this and also found two flares had been added to an image of an Israeli jet.

Mr Hajj told the BBC he denied doctoring the content of the images.



Adnan Hajj's doctored image following an Israeli air strike


He said had tried to clean dust off the first image, a shot of buildings in a suburb of Beirut, on which Reuters found smoke plumes had been darkened and expanded using computer software.

"It was so badly done - an amateur could have done better," Bob Bodman, picture editor at the Daily Telegraph newspaper, told the BBC.

Mr Hajj, a freelance photographer working for Reuters, denied altering the second photograph, an image of an Israeli F-16 fighter over Nabatiyeh in southern Lebanon.

"There's no problem with it, not at all," he said in a BBC interview.

'Lapse'

Paul Holmes, editor of political and general news at Reuters, told the BBC that senior photographers at the agency "weren't convinced" that cleaning dust off the first image would result in the manipulation the image showed.

He said there had been a "lapse in our editing process", but stressed that Reuters had moved swiftly to address the issue and tighten editing procedures.


Global picture editor Tom Szlukovenyi said all of Adnan Hajj's images had been removed from the company's database.

He described it as a precautionary measure, but said the manipulation undermined trust in Mr Hajj's entire body of work.

"There is no graver breach of Reuters standards for our photographers than the deliberate manipulation of an image," Mr Szlukovenyi said in a statement.

Questions were raised about the accuracy of the image on Sunday in several weblogs - personal online diaries by writers known as "bloggers" - including ones which scrutinise media coverage of the Middle East for bias.

Mr Holmes said Reuters welcomed the growth of weblogs, which had made the media "much more accountable and more transparent".

The London Paper

Rupert Murdoch owns the London paper along side the Sun and the Times,
We picked this paper, as it is a free daily paper handed out to customers outside London underground stations at rush hour, from Monday to Friday.
Our reasoning behind this was that if a plane had crashed into a landmark in central London they would be one of the first newspapers to run the story.

Consent Form example

A consent form will be obligatory after filming the general public and their reactions, and will only be able to use the footage of the particular individuals if they agree and sign the form, which will be similar to this one here.

UNIVERSITY OF WESTMINSTER
Information and Consent Form
Title of the Study: CONVERGENT MEDIA
Principal Investigator: Neal Bryant, James Ketterer, Andrew Lawson (phone: 0208 208 2747) (email: iamlawson@gmail.com)
Student Researcher: Andrew Lawson (phone: 07895505758)
DESCRIPTION OF THE RESEARCH
You are invited to participate in a research study about a University Of Westminster student project looking at the important of the media in the modern times.
You have been asked to participate because You have just been shown a piece of film that has been doctored to show a terrorist attack in central London, all images have been manipulated to rein-acted what might be televised if such events might happen.
The purpose of the research is to understand the publics understanding of how the new media works.
This study will include randomly selected members of the public.
The information will be included in a university project.
You will be audio and video taped during your participation in this research.
WHAT WILL MY PARTICIPATION INVOLVE?
If you decide to participate in this research you will be asked to discuss you feeling on viewing this piece of footage.
Your participation will last approximately 5 mins per session and will require 1 session which will require 5 mins in total.
ARE THERE ANY RISKS TO ME?
We don't anticipate any risks to you from participation in this study.
ARE THERE ANY BENEFITS TO ME?
We don't expect any direct benefits to you from participation in this study.
HOW WILL MY CONFIDENTIALITY BE PROTECTED?
This study is anonymous. Neither your name nor any other identifiable information will be recorded.
WHOM SHOULD I CONTACT IF I HAVE QUESTIONS?
You may ask any questions about this project at any time. If you have questions about the project after you leave today you should contact the Principal Investigator Neal Bryant, James Ketterer, Andrew Lawson at 0208 208 2747. You may also call the student researcher, Andrew Lawson at 07895505758.
If you are not satisfied with response of research team, have more questions, or want to talk with someone about your rights as a project participant, you should contact the University Of Westminster on +44 (0)20 7911 5000
Your participation is completely voluntary. If you decide not to participate or to withdraw from the study it will have no effect on any services or treatment you are currently receiving.
Your signature indicates that you have read this consent form, had an opportunity to ask any questions about your participation in this research and voluntarily consent to participate. You will receive a copy of this form for your records.
Name of Participant (please print):______________________________
_______________________________________ ______________
Signature Date

Rolling News Channel

The rolling news format has been a very popular with the news broadcasters, as it allows the channel to repeat the same footage every ten to twenty minutes, this keeping the costs down. It has also been popular with the TV audience as it allows them to catch up with daily events in a short space of time.
It was always our intention to use the BBC 24 style layout to show the Gherkin tower footage, we belive that the BBC logo will help the viewer to be more trusting of the film they are being shown.
This style will benefit us in the way that we will be using a very short piece of footage, and we will be able to loop the film and this will not look out of place on the rolling news channel

Audience

It has been discussed that the audience our final footage is shown to may not be a huge group of people. As we are looking to avoid mass panic, it could perhaps be a good idea to keep the number down to a certain amount of people to minimise the chances of a large panicked reaction. However, if the number is too small, then we may not provoke enough of a varied reaction. It would be interesting to see people who would dismiss the idea straight away, and the people who would believe it without thinking twice.

Where to show footage?

The aim of the project is to highlight how the public receive and react to media. As a result it is imperative that the footage is believable, in terms of how realistic it is and how the public are shown the footage. It is far less likely to be believed if the the situation seems too premeditated or unlikely, for example, if it is viewed on a computer it would be less likely to be believed than through a television (the standard viewing medium for the rolling news). This obviously limits where and how we can show the footage.

One option that has become available whilst trying to find possible locations is a local pub in Willesden Green, where I (James) work. The pub has two television screens which are capable to be connected directly to a computer, that we could run the footage of, thus making it appear like it is live on TV and consequently believable. The television screens are located in a great position that allows the entire bar to see them, but remain unobtrusive, which will allow some of the audience to either miss the footage or only briefly catch the footage. This will hopefully allow for a variety of reactions, which will enrich the findings.

Due to nature of television screens in pubs, i.e. can be connected to with ease and are likely to be viewed by many, they may be great locations to film the final footage. The test run in The Green will help to determine how successful this option may be.

However, it is important that we consider further possibilities as more rewarding opportunities may present themselves.

Palestine Fakes

Research into public reaction to faked events led us to a number of faked photos from Palestine where extra smoke was photoshopped in to create an illusion an attack was worse than it actually was- to provoke a reaction from the public which would be biased against the Israeli's.



This photo is what experts created to reflect what the photo would actually look like in the sun and heat of the day- with the realistic amount of smoke that was caused.