QANA, Lebanon - Abu Shadi Jradi pulled bodies out of wreckage for hours — two toddler girls wearing tiny gold earrings, a small boy whose pale blue pacifier still hung from his neck. Somewhere in the middle, Jradi slumped beneath a tree and wept.
I addressed the AP's defense of Lebanese Civilian Defense worker Salam Daher previously, now more information is coming out. It turns out that the author of that defense, Kathy Gannon is AP's Burea Chief in Iran. It's only speculation, but I wonder how long she'd be effective in that assignment if she published something negative about Iran, or Hezbollah.
And now someone is claiming to have witnessed photographers go as far as to re-use dead bodies for photo ops in Lebanon.
See LGF here:
i have been witness to the daily practice of directed shots, one case where a group of wire photogs were choreographing the unearthing of bodies, directing emergency workers here and there, asking them to position bodies just so, even remove bodies that have already been put in graves so that they can photograph them in peoples arms. these photographers have come away with powerful shots, that required no manipulation digitally, but instead, manipulation on a human level, and this itself is a bigger ethical problem.
Ace has much more, as does Allah here.
Update: And it also seems that Gannon was the one who initially pegged Mr. Green Helmet as a man with a different name. If this is accurate, as it appears to be, why would she change his name from one article to the next?
Update 2: It's possible that the Jradi mis-identification was inadvertant by another blog. Though that is the name of the individual said to have dug out the children Daher then paraded around for the photographers. That basically would mean he doesn't seem to want to get his hands dirty by digging, but certainly isn't camera shy.
Cross-posted at Riehl World View.
