55 Replies to “Staged Photos At Reuters (Again)?”

  1. They certainly look staged. Definitely the same guy in pictures #2 and #3; he looks like the guy in pic #1.

  2. They certainly look staged. Definitely the same guy in pictures #2 and #3; he looks like the guy in pic #1.

  3. They certainly look staged. Definitely the same guy in pictures #2 and #3; he looks like the guy in pic #1.

  4. They certainly look staged. Definitely the same guy in pictures #2 and #3; he looks like the guy in pic #1.

  5. They obviously don’t have much selection of clothing there as all the dead guys have the same shirt. maybe there was a
    big sale an plaid shirts,

  6. manorrd, PLEASE learn how to use a browser. Post comment, then refresh the page from the server!
    AND
    Reuters Comrades, PLEASE learn how to use fauxtography with a modicum of skill. That group of photos isn’t even a challenge to spot. Even Dan Rather could do better!

  7. Yeah, but isn’t mischief important? More important than telling the truth? After all, this website reported and continues to report that the Greyhound denogginizer was a Muslim.
    So if making stuff up to score political points is OK when you do it, how do you expect your protestations in this instance to be received? Shouldn’t you be praising Reuters and the rest of the left wing media for being so cleverly dishonest? The questions are rhetorical.

  8. The problem with pictures is that they rarely show a time line. It only gives the suggestion of being staged, but it only works if one accepts the time line and order the writer suggests. Of course, there is this from the Moscow Times which suggests the Russians have no interest in broadcasting any Georgian victims of their offensive.
    http://www.moscowtimes.ru/article/600/42/369695.htm

  10. Is it not the norm that people killed in the maelstrom of war are normally fairly bloody or at least have SOME blood on them? Well at least their clothes could be dirty!

  11. Yeah, but isn’t mischief important? More important than telling the truth? After all, this website reported and continues to report that the Greyhound denogginizer was a Muslim.
    So if making stuff up to score political points is OK when you do it, how do you expect your protestations in this instance to be received? Shouldn’t you be praising Reuters and the rest of the left wing media for being so cleverly dishonest? The questions are rhetorical.
    Posted by: Legacy Moralist at August 11, 2008 4:29 AM
    Cleverly dishonest?
    I defy you to provide a link in which I’ve written any commentary at all about the Greyhound bus incident, much less speculate about the attacker’s motives or religion.
    There was one post here on the topic, by a guest blogger during my absence, consisting of video and a link to the Edmonton Sun.
    This is so typical of the left – deprived of real examples to use to criticize my writing here, they simply extract out of context, or deliberately misinterpreted quotes or, as in this case, make crap up out of whole cloth.
    Next time, be a “man” and sign your real name. “Legacy moralist”, indeed.

  14. I’m one of the last people to trust Reuters, but the site to which Kate links mentions a BBC piece that I cannot find on the BBC site.
    The closest thing I could find “Western words fall on deaf Russian ears,” do NOT have the pictures in question.
    Neither does Reuters.
    It could mean I just couldn’t find them, or that Reuters decided to pull them – or that the blogger him/herself may have been doing the photoshopping.
    Either way, no doctored photos, in my view, can justify or excuse Russia’s imperial invasion. If these were doctored by the Georgian side, they did themselves unnecessary PR harm.

  16. Legacy Moralist: “After all, this website… continues to report that the Greyhound denogginizer was a Muslim.”
    What a pile of cr**p, which Kate has already shoveled up.
    It was mentioned a couple of times, not by Kate, the day after the beheading when it appeared with a CBC logo, no less–probably photoshopping by some mischief maker.
    But a discussion ensued, Legacy Moralist (sic), in which it seemed to be established that Li’s being a Muslim was a fabrication.
    I’ve been following further posts here and haven’t seen any more mention of it at SDA.

  17. I find it interesting how clean the people are in these pictures. Usually people get dirty when they fall down in the dirt, know what I mean? And usually they bleed after being shot/burned/blown up. That “dead” guy seems remarkably un-wounded, to my casual eye anyway. Not even a scrape.
    Also interesting that the Legacy Moralist (Wornout, is that you? Or is it QE?) finds it more objectionable that -commenters- here would be -speculating- about the religious persuasion of the Greyhound bus killer, than that Reuters is publishing really sloppy propaganda photos as if they were real instead of actual pictures of what’s actually happening.
    This would indicate to me that Legacy Moralist is a rabid partisan who will say or do pretty much anything at all, not a serious person of good character.

  18. The light halos around the trees at the top left could be indicative of either sloppy use of the Shadow/Highlight tool in PS, or perhaps something more sinister. Hard to say without having access to a full-sized sample of the image.

  20. Hey, maz2, I think you’re onto something.
    Legacy Moralist (Phantom, I was wondering if it might be QE, too) seems a tad confused, which means it would be just as well that s/he STHECKU.

  21. Maybe a local Reuters’ stringer posed the particpants in the photos. But that leaves open the question of whether he did it as a propoganda effort or was it a ‘dramatic-effect posing’ to make the pictures more saleable? And did he do either with Reuters’ tacit approval; or with open approval as was obvious in the Israel-Lebanon-Hizb’Allah war photoshopping? (BTW, there’s a difference between posing and photoshopping.)
    Another problem is that even if the MSM does come down on the side of the Georgians in this (although No Pasaran! is showing that the French, at least, are supporting the Russians and going after the ‘American lapdogs’ in Georgia and teaching Bush a lesson) and does run “pity pictures”, whether posed or genuine, that the Russian media and government have zero credibility themselves.
    And that credibility isn’t helped by reading paranoid Russian bloggers and trolls who claim the Western media is pro-US and pro-Bush; that America is trying to takeover Russia and “strangle” her etc.
    So I’m waiting to see some real reportage on this that hasn’t been forthcoming over this weekend. CNN has spent more time on Edwards; the BBC (and ABC) is covering the Games; and the Toronto explosion has been the feature of Canadian MSM weekend coverage.

  22. Following up on the photos’ existence, I found one on the Washington Post site. So my earlier hint that the cited blogger may be doing the photoshopping should probably go by the wayside.
    Still, while I’m no fan of doctored or phony images, I don’t see how this justifies or excuses the invasion of Georgia.

  23. Here’s Reuters’ photospread on the war:
    http://tinyurl.com/5m5gmw
    (And the Russian blog’s photos do appear there and elsewhere on the Reuters’ site.)
    And from what I read of the various news stories, Reuters isn’t being anti-Russian.
    Here’s the description going along with one of the Russian blog’s photos, “A Georgian man cries as he holds the body of his relative after a bombardment in Gori, 80 km (50 miles) from Tbilisi, August 9, 2008. A Russian warplane dropped a bomb on an apartment block in Gori on Saturday, killing at least 5 people, a Reuters reporter said. The bomb hit the five-story building close to Georgia’s embattled breakaway province of South Ossetia when Russian warplanes carried out a raid against military targets around the town.”

  26. Aaron, I sometimes h/t readers when they send on links, sometimes not. Remember that sometimes several people send me the same item, or that I may have seen it mentioned on blogger email lists or at other sites long before it appears in reader tips, etc.

  27. “Next time, be a “man” and sign your real name. “Legacy moralist”, indeed.”
    No need for such an emotional response, it was a perfectly valid observation: this website not only regularly posts false information, with the Greyhound incident only the most recent example, but it also praises evil, outright evil – as long as it’s the side you support doing evil.
    Which I suppose is your right, but since you are soliciting public comments at your “blog”, kindly allow me to comment that your protestations of wrongdoing by the other side, be it Al Quaeda or Adscam, simply don’t fly. A wolf crying wolf, put simply. You have yourself a good day now, ma’am.

  28. In my view, the whole purpose of sda is to allow the valve to be opened on the fire hose. The fire hose of information – information and opinion from the people.
    We will all be better off if the spin and bias and dumbing down by the MSM is revealed and the media is held accountable. The first time in history that this is possible.
    It is the h/t itself that is important not the feather in the cap.

  29. And so, being totally unable to support his claims, Legacy Moralist merely repeats them and rides off into the sunset.
    Goodbye Legacy Moralist.

  30. Man being carried is not dead. Did anyone claim he’s dead? He’s just heavy. The man standing in picture 1 is wearing black pants, the man in pictures 2 and 3 is wearing blue pants.
    The pictures were probably staged to a certain extent, but the destruction you see in the background certainly wasn’t staged. I think the body on the ground was a “plant”. The fact he’s on top of the wreckage with no apparent wounds is somewhat suspicious.

  31. I just thought of something. Maybe we`re all dead!! Like in the movie “The Sixth sense!!”

  33. @Legacy Moralist – First of all, using big words doesn’t make you smart, especially when one of them is not an actual word. Making stuff up, and then repeating the same thing doesn’t prove your point. You should back up your accusations with a link, as asked.
    Can you please clarify what you mean by this site praising evil? outright evil? You don’t make much sense. Maybe you’ve been drinking?
    Oh, and nobody uses the word “protestations” anymore.
    About the pictures- follow the money. The media needed pictures, and the photographer needed money. I’m sure he bought his “dead” buddy a couple of beers for this one. (The guy in black took off his shirt, threw it on the ground, put on the woman’s pants, and hugged a dead guy)
    It’s interesting how comments around the internet start blaming Bush for this.
    Also, you did not really mean it when you said “have yourself a good day now, ma’am” (implying that you meant it, and were leaving), as we all know that you will be sitting behind your computer hitting refresh waiting on emotional responses, hopefully with threats of violence so you can go running away telling the world what a bunch of lunatics those non AlQuaeda huggers are.

  34. “Wag the Dog” the sequel.
    Hey Vit, can you cue up the song “Good Old Shoe” from Willie Nelson.

  35. Fake but true, eh?
    Can we be grown up about this. Propaganda has always been, and always will be, a key tool in warfare. Today more than ever especially with the world-wide paralysis of the elites.
    I don’t give a sh*t if the pix are faked unless the faking contains the truth, like the way great fiction, tho’ invented, contains higher truths than so-called reality.
    Pallywood fakery has no truth. This fakery demonizing Russia is the truth.
    Here’s a twist: Faux rage over fauxtography which helps garner sympathy for the evil Russian regime. Now there’s a propagandistic coup, eh?
    We are aware, I presume, of the use of sets in New Jersey during WW2, including the filming of toy boats!

  36. I really have no idea what is going on in Georgia. I expect the Russians to prevail, though.
    Will they install their own puppet or just settle for the two breakaway parts being welcomed back to Russia.?

  37. These photos are fishy. However, Russian shelling on Georgian territory has definitely occurred. Georgian atrocities have definitely occurred. Russian atrocities are guaranteed to happen. And Russia is undoubtedly banking on this whole mess to pay back the current Georgian administration for the many spats over the past few years.

  38. Dave in Pa
    PLEASE learn how to read. I only posted one comment.
    I believe you meant to direct your vitriol towards SAM23…

  40. Me No Dhimmi, there’s a difference between faking pics for your own side, and publishing the OTHER SIDE’S fake pics as if they were real.
    Russia ain’t on our side dude. Neither is Georgia, for that matter.

  41. If you go to Gatewaypundit, scroll down a little, you can see an even better ( in my opinion ) example of actors and staged photos from Reuters.

  42. manorrd — Why did you post EXACTLY the same comment as Sam23 but 3 minutes later? Multiple personality disorder?
    Anyhoo … the photos do seem kind of posed but the man in photos #2 and #3 is not the same as the man in black in photo #1. I think that photo #2 is from the opposite angle of photo #1. The yellow blanket is in both photos and it’s not clear which photo was taken first. Maybe #3 was actually taken first before the man took off his shirt to help someone else. Then he saw his friend/brother/neighbor and moved the blanket to wrap him in?
    We can all guess about what’s in the pictures but without the entire series in chronological order with time stamps it is hard to know. It’s even harder because we know from past experience that we can’t trust Reuters.
    Does anyone have a link from someone who is actually there and would have amateur photos?

  43. The problem with the photos is: we don’t know. It would certainly be possible for someone to be killed by blast/shock without a whole lot of external marks, however the various arrangements/clothing changes of the subjects of the photos are suspicious.
    The key here is that Reuters’ conduct during the Israel/South Lebanese conflict so destroyed their credibility that we can no longer view their publications including their photos without a great deal of skepticism. Whereas prior to that conflict the photos would have been believed without question (for better or worse) Reuters’ credibility is now in the sewer. Had they taken the integrity of their product as their first priority and either made assiduous efforts to verify their photos and stories or, having seen them exposed as fakes made a strenous effort to clean house (even made the faking of the photos a major story itself along with the steps taken to prevent this in the future) then their credibility could have been restored. That didn’t happen. That leaves us with news reports viewed identically to a fifty-dollar Rolex sold on a street corner, which we expect to show the correct time twice a day.

  44. I think they are staged and this is why. Photo’s 1 and 3 the shoes are different on the guy in the black. I would think the camera would pick-up the color of the pants of the guy in black in photo 1 and blue pants in photo 3 because of the blue being picked up on the porch of #1 given the back lighting. A blast that would have taken out the guy in #1 would cause a bit of wrinkling on his cloths and I would expect some blood or charring. I don’t see any evidence of a gun shot. Dark shirt on in #1 and shirt with vest on in #3 and no shirt in #2? Debris is not consistent between 1,2 and 3. Body seems to have been moved away from the building in #1 verses 2. The depth of field is different in photo’s 1,2 and 3 and I doubt a photographer would change f-stops in a situation like this or take the time to change lens.

  45. No doubt Reuter’s would fake pictures they are so Anti-American, Anti-West it ain’t even possible to hide anymore.
    On another note; I just went to Google Maps and was looking at Georgia to try and find the Highways into Gori and Lo and BeHold all the country’s roads and cities are blanked out. The whole country is blanked out on Google Maps.
    Hmmmmm, is Google inbed with the Russian Media ?
    ,

  46. The most telling thing in these photos is the lack of dust and blast on the victims. Every single photograph that ever was of “real” blast victims shows bodies covered in dust, usually so much so that you can’t in fact, see blood. Large quantities of blood appear black or brown, because there is so much dust. Clothing gets torn, very often ripped from bodies, and those close to blasts are usually blackened. Once the body goes down, even if it was hit at some distance away by shrapnel, it’ll usually get covered by dust unless there is a strong wind pushing the dust away. Had these victims been shot, it’d be more difficult, but since they were bombing victims, this is an easy case of spot the fake.
    Remember the bodies of children in Beslan. How matted their hair, how filthy the bodies, how caked in dust and blood. How utterly pathetic.
    Just another reason, by the way, to loath most news media outlets and those working for them. They are either incredibly incompetent, which means most should be fired … or willfully disingenuous, which means most should be fired.

  47. To manorrd @ 12:59:
    No, newbie… you tried posting a comment as sam23 and didn’t wait until your browser refreshed, so you hit the send key again, and again. Then, being so incredibly impatient to impart your ‘wisdom’ to us, you changed the sender’s name to manorrd and hit the send key. Mercifully, the msg got through, else we’d have a dozen more identical entries.
    Geeesh!

  48. DP.
    Sorry, I’ve in combat and seen many bodies after an attack. These photos are outright fakes. I’ve never seen so many clean people in my life.
    This isn’t the first time Reuters been caught doing this.

  50. The Phantom. Dude, you’re not usually confused, so maybe I am. But I don’t think so.
    Georgia is a strong Western ally. Russia is not an ally. Georgia sought entry into NATO for reasons that are now clear. Bush pushed for it, as I recall.
    The pix, if staged, are meant to put Russia in a negative light. All I was trying to say was, I’m good with putting Russia in a negative light in this case. Complaining about fake pix in effect softens the negative view of Russia. They have acted like a rogue terrorist nation. They baited Georgia into this thing, have deliberately targeted strictly civilian targets, and they have hit many targets having nothing to do with South Ossetia. That Georgia acted stupidly is immaterial.
    And as DrD points out, Reuters has zero credibility anyway. SO … so what!

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