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August 13, 2006

Ignoring the Elephant in Qana
Update: Not So

Douglas Adams might have called this an application of a SEP Field. There are articles and editorials coming out on the question of staged photos in Qana that concentrate only on the pictures they received and used while ignoring anything outside of that scope that may show the doctoring began before the shutter snapped. They believe that must be someone else's problem.

Case in point:
A War of Images and Perceptions by Deborah Howell, Ombudsman, Washington Post

My review of war photos published in The Post didn't show any obvious manipulation. Several readers questioned the July 31 Page 1 photo of the dead at Qana and said they had heard that one person had been moving and that the photo had been staged.

Post photographer Michael Robinson-Chavez was there. "Everyone was dead, many of them children. Nothing was set up. There was no way photos could have been altered with a dozen photographers there."

Once again, there is no mention of the elephant in the room: the NDR video.

I have written to Deborah Howell with links to the footage because any article written discussing the coverage of events in Qana, Lebanon is incomplete without it and does a diservice to the public.

Besides, that pacaderm isn't going anywhere anytime soon.

UPDATE (2:00 PM)
Deborah Howell responds:

I looked at these. I was writing about what appeared in the Post. I saw the guy in the green helmet, but his picture was never in the Post. Photo editors are on the look out for things like this.

Deborah Howell
Washington Post Ombudsman

I thank the Ombudsman for her answer and am glad to know they have been aware of the video. It makes sense not to assume that, since one instance is confirmed to be staged, every photo must also have been staged. In fact, unless hard evidence is made to the contrary, the assumption must be the opposite. This is why I have mentioned only the NDR video and Salam Daher in regards to staging.

But I still think the video should have been part of the discussion.

Posted by Skayhan at August 13, 2006 12:55 AM

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