Poor LA Times! They Just Can't Keep Up

[Annie]

The post on the photoshop was #1 on Digg since yesterday morning.

http://littlegreenfootballs.com/web...an_Propaganda_Claim_Ignores_Fauxtography&only

...They include this picture, a screen capture from Iranian TV:

It’s pretty clear that this is the same arrangement of objects as in the doctored photo that was published at Iran’s Fars News:

Comparing the two images gives us even more proof that the Fars News image was altered—if we needed any more to recognize such an obvious fraud. Notice that the AK47 in the LA Times image has been photoshopped out of existence in the bottom image, although you can still see the remnant of its strap and handle. It’s incredibly sloppy work.

How the photoshop was done:

http://i113.photobucket.com/albums/n212/DarUlHarb/IranianPhotoshop.swf


So what does LA Times do? Runs it today:

http://www.latimes.com/news/printed...ory?coll=la-news-a_section&ctrack=1&cset=true

 

[Annie]

The post on the photoshop was #1 on Digg since yesterday morning.

http://littlegreenfootballs.com/web...an_Propaganda_Claim_Ignores_Fauxtography&only

How the photoshop was done:

http://i113.photobucket.com/albums/n212/DarUlHarb/IranianPhotoshop.swf


So what does LA Times do? Runs it today:

http://www.latimes.com/news/printed...ory?coll=la-news-a_section&ctrack=1&cset=true

Well look at this!

http://pantrydawg.blogspot.com/2007/02/when-journalists-write-back.html

February 21, 2007
When Journalists write back

I, like many right minded folks on the right side of the blogosphere, was a bit peeved when read this post on little green footballs. Apparently, the Los Angeles Times ran a photograph of dubious origins used by Iran's Fars News to implicate the United States in recent terror attacks. Bloggers complained it was another photoshop job and that the Times' uncritical posting of the pic lent credence to the Iranian allegations. Say what you will about the importance of the issue but it irked me at the time.
When the Dawg is irked, the Dawg snarks. I fired off the following tongue-in-cheek snark mail to Kim Murphy, the author of the article:

-----Original Message-----
From: xxxxxx [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Monday, February 19, 2007 10:11 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: I know that

...if I cup my hands over my ears and hum really loudly, all of the people exposing the woefully photoshopped picture in my article will go away. Get off your dinosaur, get a blog and become relevant.


Cute. And bashing MSM is always a blast. I figured my email would end up, like most of my snark, in that great dustbin of netbage. To my mild surprise, I received the following email from Ms. Murphy:

"Murphy, Kim" wrote:

Dear Joe,

You are SO right!

But please don't mistake me for the Fars News Agency, whose photo this is. We had decided to give the Iranians a rare chance to express their allegations about the U.S., particularly since Iran had been so outraged about the U.S. allegations of Iranian weaponry in Iraq (which has also been subject to quite a bit of skepticism.) I forwarded the photo FYI to my editors, who decided to print it, obviously without making any claims as to its authenticity.

As for my beloved dinosaur, if we cavewomen weren't out there gathering the news-such as it is-in Iran, what would you bedroom-slippered bloggers have to chew the fat about? J

Regards,

Kim Murphy​

Of course she is right - any fault in the matter should be attributed to the paper's editors. I was lazy and saw her email address at the bottom of the article and ran with it. But you have to admire this journalist's spunk and good natured humor. I'll let others, who so desire, parse through her defense of the article.

NOTE: I did receive Ms. Murphy's full permission to reprint her original response to me.

posted by Myra Langerhas at 12:21 AM