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Photo Fakery At The New York Times

 
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shawa
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Joined: 03 Sep 2004
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PostPosted: Mon Jan 16, 2006 5:43 pm    Post subject: Photo Fakery At The New York Times Reply with quote

Editors at the NYT have to be just plain STUPID if they thought this photo would pass muster!!

Quote:
Photo Fakery At The New York Times
January 16th, 2006

Is a fake staged photo fit to print? What if it staged in a way that makes the US forces fighting the War on Terror look cruel and ineffective? The evidence argues that yes, it can run, and in a prominent position - at least in the case of the New York Times website.

It appears that the Times, once-upon-a-time regarded as the last word in reliability when it comes to checking before publishing (which makes them so much better than blogs, of course), has run a fake photo on the home page of its website. The photo has since been removed from the home page, but still can be seen here.

The picture shows a sad little boy, with a turbaned man next to him, a little bit further from the camera, amid the ruins of a house. Other men and boys peer in from the background. The photo is captioned

“Pakistani men with the remains of a missile fired at a house in the Bajur tribal zone near the Afghan border.”

The story it accompanies is about the apparently failed attempt to take out al Qaeda’s #2 man al Zawahiri, with a missile attack from a Predator drone.

“How sad!” readers are encouraged to think. “These poor people are on the receiving end of awful weapons used by the clumsy minions of Bush. And all to no avail. Isn’t it terrible? Why must America do such horrible misdeeds? Bush must go!”

The only problem is that the long cylindrical item with a conical tip pictured with the boy and the man is not a missile at all. It is an old artillery shell. Not something that would have been fired from a Predator. Indeed, something that must have been found elsewhere and posed with the ruins and the little boy as a means at pulling of the heartstrings of the gullible readers of the New York Times.


Others have noticed the fakery, too.

Ned Barnett is an expert on military technology, and frequently serves as a contributor to The History Channel on mil-tech issues. He has plenty of experience researching military ordnance. He told me:

STORY CONTINUED AT: The American Thinker

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Schadow
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Joined: 30 Sep 2004
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Location: Huntsville, Alabama

PostPosted: Mon Jan 16, 2006 5:57 pm    Post subject: Re: Photo Fakery At The New York Times Reply with quote

shawa wrote:
Editors at the NYT have to be just plain STUPID if they thought this photo would pass muster!!


Those villagers should be careful with that shell. The rotator band shows rifling from the tube it was once shot from. Rolling Eyes



Schadow
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wwIIvetsdaughter
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PostPosted: Mon Jan 16, 2006 6:27 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

The "Gray Lady" is about as trustworthy as The National Enquirer. Evil or Very Mad
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GM Strong
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PostPosted: Mon Jan 16, 2006 7:26 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

What would this round be from?? Looks like a computer added picture of what dimension?
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ocsparky101
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PostPosted: Mon Jan 16, 2006 8:05 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

An artilery round? Isn't that what they use to make IED's that kill so many of our American Boys? Could it be that the house was a bomb factory? Should we be thanking the NYT for exposing the going ons in that area of Pakastian and should we mass the troops and shut them down?
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Schadow
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PostPosted: Mon Jan 16, 2006 10:10 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

GM Strong wrote:
What would this round be from?? Looks like a computer added picture of what dimension?


Looks like a 155 mm projectile. It's probably sitting on a rubble wall closer to the camera that the closest people.

"No, Ahmed, I wouldn't hit the pointy end of that thing with so big a rock. You never know what might hap....."

Schadow
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Rdtf
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Joined: 13 May 2004
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PostPosted: Mon Jan 16, 2006 11:47 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

on FreeRepublic, ASA Vet noticed yesterday that the URL had 'Afghan' in it.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1558739/posts

The photo URL is
http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2006/01/14/international/worldspecial/14cnd-afghan.184x250.jpg
Why would a so called Paki photo have afghan in it's URL?

36 posted on 01/16/2006 12:15:48 AM EST by ASA Vet
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GM Strong
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PostPosted: Tue Jan 17, 2006 1:04 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Schadow wrote:
GM Strong wrote:
What would this round be from?? Looks like a computer added picture of what dimension?


Looks like a 155 mm projectile. It's probably sitting on a rubble wall closer to the camera that the closest people.

"No, Ahmed, I wouldn't hit the pointy end of that thing with so big a rock. You never know what might hap....."

Schadow


That's what I thought, and since, several others seem to think so. I am no artilleryman so I couldn't make a real guess. It is out of proportion so the guess is it that it is a computer enhanced and added part of the photo. I wonder if Bill Burkett did it.
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Schadow
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PostPosted: Tue Jan 17, 2006 3:08 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

GM Strong wrote:
That's what I thought, and since, several others seem to think so. I am no artilleryman so I couldn't make a real guess. It is out of proportion so the guess is it that it is a computer enhanced and added part of the photo. I wonder if Bill Burkett did it.


OK, it could have been PhotoShop'd. I don't think so. The lighting is consistent and the size of the projectile could be the result of simple perspective.

The real question is why? Why would the NYT bother to work up a fake photo of a munition that had nothing to do with the attack? The strike was carried out with Hellfire(s) launched from a Predator. Are we to believe that some Bedcheck Charlie flew over tossing artillery projectiles overboard at the same time?

It would seem that the NYT, in their haste to get something in the paper, riffled through their photo collection and said, "This is close enough. Run with it, intrepid reporter!"

I agree that the word "afghan" in the photo's URL is very telling. This photo undoubtedly was not taken in Pakistan.

Schadow
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LewWaters
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PostPosted: Tue Jan 17, 2006 4:20 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Far from an expert on artillery shells, but who else thinks that could be an old Soviet artillery shell left over from their long engagement in Afghanistan?

Obviously, it isn't a missle nor is it a used artillery shell. Even a dud wouldn't that be that pristine.
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GoophyDog
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PostPosted: Tue Jan 17, 2006 6:08 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Zoom in on the base of the round in the photo - this sucker has been "touched up". Also note the dithering on the left side of the round compared with the right specifically where the kids' face is covered. Much more dithering on the left side at the brown wall. Also note the enhanced black edging of the jacket on the kid on the left.

I won't even go into the fact of the Pushten hat of the man on the left partially behind that metal thing, nor the tribal headdress wrapping on the man on the right. Clearly Afghanistan.

As for the round, I'll leave that to a red leg, they'll know more about the markings.
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sixdogteam
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PostPosted: Tue Jan 17, 2006 2:07 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

We have enemies in New York.
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