A blog-driven exposé of Reuters' doctored photos may be the tip of an iceberg of manipulated information and photographs coming from Hezbollah-controlled areas. The question is will America's prestige media give greater scrutiny to the images they publish?
An AFP article today incorrectly stated that in September Israel completely cut off the Palestinian territories. CAMERA communicated with editors, and the erroneous information was removed in an updated version of the story later in the day. The two versions of the article follow:
In a case of apparently blatant manipulation, AFP has removed a key item in a reported list of four U.S. demands being made of Syria in the wake of the Hariri assassination. More than one AFP story omits the call to "stop support for militant groups like Hezbollah, Hamas and Islamic Jihad."
An AFP story on the wire today reported without challenge Saeb Erakat's claim that the "road map" requires Israel to release Palestinian prisoners. In response to communication from CAMERA, subsequent AFP stories noted that "the roadmap makes no mention of Israel releasing Palestinian detainees."
An Agence France Press article by Safaa Kanj about water shortages and contamination in Gaza suffered from one-sidedness, distortions and factual inaccuracies. The writer consulted only Palestinian sources, put the onus entirely on Israel (mostly incorrectly) for water scarcity problems, and ignored any information which implicated the Palestinians or which portrayed Israel in a positive light.
Wire stories yesterday from the Agence France Presse and Associated Press blame Israel for killing a 20-year-old Palestinian in an incident which is now under dispute. The Israeli army says that their Palestinian counterparts informed them the young man was a victim of an internal Palestinian feud.
Judging by some of today's AFP reports, timeliness came at the expense of objective reporting. The timeline entitled "Major events in Palestinian history" whitewashes Palestinian Arab violence and responsibility for the conflict.
An egregious error in a June 28, 2005 Agence France Presse (AFP) story has been corrected. The report initially claimed that a 1969 arson attempt at the Al Aksa mosque was carried out by "Jewish hardliners," when in fact it was carried out by an Australian Protestant.
