Correction (Feb. 10, 2009): Corrected from original reporting attributing AP and Getty with the photo editing. In fact it was ABCNews.com, not AP or Getty Images that overlaid the Bush photo on the Gaza rubble photo. AP and Getty Images supplied the respective photos. Thanks to the folks at StinkyJournalism.org for pointing out the error.
I guess, since flat-out fauxtography as practiced in 2006 in the Middle East has become so difficult, and has been shown as likely to be detected, that the press has decided to go with "creative" image placement to do the dirty work that must be done to create sympathy for Hamas and antipathy towards President Bush and the United States.
For "some reason," the editors at ABCNews.com placed President Bush's image at its bottom right. The photo compilation (shown above) accompanied a report by Miguel Marquez and Simon McGregor-Wood that appears to have also run on the network's "World News" program.
The wreckage in the photo purports to be "the destroyed house of Hamas leader of Nizar Rayan following an Israeli air strike the day before in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip" (given the state of reporting out of the region, one never knows for sure).
There is no good reason for Mr. Bush's picture to be included, since:
- He had nothing to do with the attack.
- The United States had nothing to do with the attack.
- Both he and the United States, as far as I know, have not anything specific to indicate that they were particularly supportive of this specific attack.
There are, however, really bad reasons for the photo placement or those who don't read the accompanying article:
- It associates Bush with the Gaza attack, perhaps even leading some to believe that he ordered it or was at least specifically supportive of it.
- The caption under the picture makes it appear as if Bush is dismissive of attacks such as these, and that his statement about a "one-way ceasefire" is uninformed.
It's enough to make you wonder how much influence the world press's Arab-state paymasters still have.
Cross-posted at BizzyBlog.com.
—Tom Blumer is president of a training and development company in Mason, Ohio, and is a contributing editor to NewsBusters
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Well Tom. Surely during..
January 9, 2009 - 14:01 ET by Gary HallWell Tom. Surely during.. the 2000 Intafada, pictures of President Clinton were pasted in the corner of pictures of the body parts. Not to mention when we found out that during the Clinton term, N. Korea had cheated and started processing fissionable material, they placed Clinton's picture next to that mushroom cloud. And, naturally, as the media talked about the recession Clinton left to Bush in 2001, Clinton's picture, and full accountability, was usually attached to the story.
Right?
Well Gary
January 9, 2009 - 14:15 ET by BlondeAll that pasting of Clinton's pic apparently worked.
He got booed at the BCS last night when they showed his pic on the Jumbotron.
Gotta love my Gators! (Think they'll boo Odumbo when Harvard plays in the BCS?).
And Tom....I can't quite read the caption on that photo....what does it say?
It says .....
January 9, 2009 - 14:21 ET by Tom Blumer..... the following:
I forgot about all the Clinton juxtapositions (/sarc).
Of course, Tom
January 9, 2009 - 14:43 ET by BlondeNo one would know who President George W. Bush was if his picture wasn't there.
See how that guilt by association thing works?
What, you say? Those two sentences were unconnected and didn't make sense?
Same for the photos.
Lower than lawyer tactics.
11 dazes of shopping for Bush Fault left, hurry ,hurry..
January 9, 2009 - 14:17 ET by upcountrywaterAmerican planes, bombs ,rockets, satellite info... yes it's our fault.
Israel is here still...
for how long?
FREEDOM
(D)
Not the first time
January 9, 2009 - 16:17 ET by Doc_NavyTom,
As I rememember, when the Gov. Blago (D-IL.) thing first hit the MSM I was watching CNN, and in almost EVERY SINGLE picture they put up of Blagojevich there was either a little side pic of Bush or it was a pic of Blago with Bush somewhere in the frame.
I remember thinking to myself, "WTF?! I thought this was over Obama's Senate seat, and that Obama and Blago worked together at times...What does Presitdent Bush have to do with ANYTHING??". I figured, at the time, that it was an effort to once again tie anything bad to Bush. (Even if it was just a visual reference.)
I see that it is still continuing.
Doc
2008: The year that the great LIE died.
How we know that they know that they are Lying.
Friedrich Nietzsche summed up how I feel about the MSM in this quote:
"I'm not upset that you lied to me, I'm upset that from now on I can't believe you."
That's how propaganda works...
January 9, 2009 - 16:40 ET by SpaceManSpiffThat's how propaganda works... You put pictures of those you wish to villify with pictures of wreckage and misery. You put pictures of those you wish to deify with pictures of prosperity. Bush gets a bombed out building, while Obama gets smiling children.
Did Orwell predict the future? Or are the enemies of freedom following Orwell's example?
I guess my last
January 9, 2009 - 17:10 ET by MidAmericaI guess my last Sensitivity Training Class has been too long ago. When I see the homes of rocket lobbing nut jobs smoldering in ruins I don't care.