Snapped Shot

There's a bit of a ruckus going on over in the JBlogosphere about an AP photograph from the Gaza Strip that appears to have been staged.

In this particular case, I don't think it's such a big deal.

Yes, the pictures appear to be spotless in an area covered in dust. There's probably a reason for it, though—The pictures were most likely picked up and cleaned by Mushir al-Masri, who is standing in the same frame.

To me, this seems to be a far cry different than fauxtography from the past. Take, for instance, the incident with toys in Lebanon, which we briefly discussed back when this blog first launched in 2006. In each and every one of the photographs in that particular series, the toy was presented completely devoid of context, leaving the viewer with the distinct impression that the dastardly Israeli military was intentionally aiming for children.

Compare that to now, when most readers already know that Hamas buildings were targets, and that Hamas-supporting legislators would most likely be back around to assess the damage (even if they're acting). I would suggest that showing these legislators in action is not intentionally misleading to the same level as the toys were, since we can see the context in which the photograph was taken.

As a side note, someone made an interesting comment on Carl in Jerusalem's post, reportedly passed on from an incoming photojournalist in the Gaza Strip:

... I would've thought there'd be more damage - true, all the Hamas buildings are destroyed - but that's maybe four streets in total and a building here, a building there.

So, my impressions are that the place is not nearly so destroyed by Israel as I was expecting it to have been from the pictures I saw.

I think it would be very enlightening to see aerial photographs of Gaza City, if the IDF were up to it.

(Oh, and yes: The title is a bad play on "Fauxtography." Seaux sue me. )

One can only imagine that the mystery of the mythical unicorn will be solved forthrightly:

A masked Palestinian militant from Hamas carries his weapon as he walks in the rubble of a house destroyed in the recent Israeli military operation in east Jebaliya, northern Gaza Strip, Saturday, Jan. 24, 2009. (AP Photo/Kevin Frayer)

One can only hope that Kevin passes his handy Hamas identification guide on to Patrick Baz next time they run into each other.

Incidentally, for background on how Hamas was directly responsible for civilian casualties in Gaza, please see here immediately. How much longer will the Dudley Do-rights of Turtle Bay turn a blind eye to such blatant war crimes?

Exhibit A, for your consideration:

Palestinians wait to go on a rocket ride at an amusement park during the third day of the Eid al-Adha festival in Gaza City, Wednesday, Dec. 10, 2008. Muslims worldwide are celebrating Eid al-Adha, or Feast of the Sacrifice, commemorating God's provision of a ram to substitute for Abraham's impending sacrifice of his son, where able Muslims offer either a goat, sheep, cow, buffalo, or camel during the feast rituals. The arabic writing reads 'Spaceship.' (AP Photo/Kevin Frayer)

Before you go and accuse me of being insensitive, here's some background.

The irony curtain lifts, even if but for a second.

Update: Why is it that the good ideas come to me after I've clicked the saved button?

Update 2: On a related note..... One wonders how this little turn of technology will affect the popularity of the ride.

Sometimes, the surroundings of a photograph speak volumes about the "message" that a photojournalist is trying to convey to his readers. For instance, framing a group of people behind a police barrier conveys the message that, somehow, the subjects in the picture are being "oppressed" by a particular police force, even though other photographs in the same series show very clearly that the police barriers are not intended to surround the people pictured.

Here's another interesting case of selective framing, courtesy Kevin Frayer of the-wire-service-that-hates-me. I'll refer you over here for the picture, but allow me to "paint words" with the caption, if I may—and if you have problems with it, Counselor, you know the drill:

Palestinian Muslim women stand under a Christian mural as they look on, during the funeral of four Palestinian militants in the West Bank town of Bethlehem, Thursday, March 13, 2008. The militant Islamic Jihad group in Gaza fired more than a dozen rockets at southern Israel early Thursday after Israeli undercover forces killed one of its West Bank leaders in a raid in the West Bank town of Bethlehem. The attacks shattered a recent lull in Gaza fighting and highlighted the fragility of efforts to move Israel and Gaza's Islamic Hamas rulers toward an informal truce. (AP Photo/Kevin Frayer)

Continue reading »

The funny thing is, I bet that the soldier was just messing around with the photographer. I mean, it's not like this is the first time something like that's happened, is it? (See the second large photograph down.) And don't forget that Kevin Frayer was only standing about 2 feet from the other photographer, so obviously the soldiers aren't that concerned about not having their pictures taken.



It'd be interesting to learn who the blocked photographer is. Either way, I'm sure somebody out there's going to be crying censorship any minute now, whether it is or not.

Dunno about you, but I don't plan on being the one to tell these folks that Israel didn't have anything to do with the execution of Saddam Hussein. Well, unless you consider fanciful conspiracy theories to be real, that is.



I sure hope they remembered to bring the bean dip. More festivities beyond the fold. Continue reading »

Sung to the tune of "Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer," of course.

Sweetness & Light pounced on this story before I had a chance to get this posted, so I'll just introduce the topic with the best picture of the bunch, and then send you over yonder for the rest.

It's good to see the Associated Press acknowledge that the map in this picture encompasses the entire Israeli nation, though I do think that they're still missing the point by a wide margin.

Earlier this year, there were worldwide (and totally orchestrated) protests against Israel's "destruction" of the al-Aqsa Mosque, the third holiest site in Islam—which does not appear once in the Qu'ran—even though Israeli excavations were being performed to preserve archaeological evidence before official Palestinian construction destroyed it. The press, in its endless exuberance for anything anti-Western, presented these protests as fact, not once attempting to understand the Israeli side of the issue.



Fast-forward to yesterday, where Israeli citizens were protesting their own government's plan to give the Temple Mount—which incidentally is the single-most holiest site in Judaism, mentioned in the Torah and Talmud hundreds of times—are tarred and smeared as "right-wing" extremists.



There's that good old-fashioned fairness and balance for you: "Curse those dastardly right-wingers."

Full coverage of yesterday's Radical Right Wing Israeli Protest can be found beyond the fold.

Update: Wow, here are some genuine words of "wisdom" from Ehud "The Dunce" Olmert:

Israeli PM Olmert slams right-wing extremists over 'flood of hatred'

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert launched a vitriolic attack on extreme right-wingers on Monday, amid a campaign to release a political assassin and incitement against talks with the Palestinians.

Olmert, who on Sunday said he may be able to conclude a peace deal with the Palestinians by the end of next year, vowed that such behaviour would not dissuade him from persevering with negotiations.

"We are prepared to make compromises because security is based on peace and peace requires painful compromises," he said in a speech to a managers' conference in Israel's commercial capital Tel Aviv.

Okay, here's a "flood of hatred" for you, Eddy Boy:—if you're so set against the Jewish people that you do not wish to hear what the Jewish people have to say about the future of Israel—the ancestral home of said Jewish people—then why in the devil do you allow yourself to remain as President? If genuine Judaism disgusts you so much, why not just pack up and move over to your best buddy's little tinpot regime?

After all, if your "counterparts" at the peace conference deny your right to exist, as the savages have done on every occasion they've been given, why do you suppose that "peace" somehow depends on giving them more land, you traitorous coward?!

Is Israel really so self-destructive now that they allow scum like this to remain in power?

Soccer Dad writes to remind me that Olmert used to be one of we dreaded "right-wingers", back before political expediency necessitated the abandonment of his core beliefs. How times change!

I dream of the day in which spinelessness will no longer be a requirement for public office in the West.

Update: The Elder has more thoughts on extremism.

See-also:

Israel Matzav

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Here's yet another photo of heartless Israeli oppression. Imagine the sheer audacity of this soldier, helpfully pointing an obviously belligerent woman in the direction of the queue—Oh, the outrage!



Someone remind me: Why do we bother employing photojournalists in the Middle East again? The ones already over there are so far in the bag for the "opposition" team that I really must wonder how any editor worth his salt would allow any of their material onto the news wires.

Being "impartial" is one thing, but this is ridiculous. Enough cheerleading for the terrorists already!

Nice, peaceful "youth." More of this "peaceful" nuttiness follows the break. Continue reading »

... this way comes. Without any prior warning from the photo wires, we're treated to a series of photographs of a funeral procession for a ten-year-old girl, reported to have been killed by a rubber bullet fired by IDF soldiers. But, as with many reports originating from the region, the lines are somewhat unclear. For instance, the first story I see about it is from yesterday, even though the event was reported by the photo wires to have happened on Tuesday. To make matters worse, there are only a handful of stories about it, at the time of this writing, it being worth only 8 stories. (And yes, I tried alternate searches as well.)

What really stinks to high heaven about this story, though, is a fact that none of these reports conveys: Much like their anti-war counterparts here in the United States, not a single one of these anti-"Apartheid" wall protests happens without being covered by any number of photographers. So why is it that after a girl is injured at such a protest, is there not a single photograph of her on the wires from the protest itself? Surely, the photographers would've noticed such a young girl being treated brutally, and would have proceeded to take hundreds of sympathetic pictures!

I mean, it's possible to explain it away by suggesting that the IDF confiscated film from every photographer on-site, but based on the photographic coverage we've seen from that area over the past 6 years, do you really think that's what's going on? Perhaps it was the Palestinians who confiscated the film, but really -- wouldn't that have merited at least a story about the event?

Finally, check out the professionally-printed "funeral" photograph on the gravesite. One doesn't usually find such detail, mere days after a little girl's life is abruptly ended--that is, unless one is intent on trying to score a very cynical political point.

There's definitely something very wrong with this story. I'll be keeping an eye on things to see what kind of reaction it gets in the international press. Keep reading below the fold for the handful of photos on the wire about this so far.

Update: The story is gaining traction, being featured on the front page of the "moderate" English-language Palestine Times.

Not to be too conspiratorial, but do y'all think there's any chance that the Palestinian government (or rather, a group of Palestinians, be it Fatah or Hamas) did this? It seems to be an awfully efficient way to try and re-direct some of the current fratricidal violence in the region back to the "evil Zionists," doesn't it?

Update: The more I see the "posterized" memorial photograph of this girl, the more convinced I am that this is heartless propaganda. The IDF has opened an investigation into her death, so we'll just have to wait and see what the truth is. I'm still scanning the wires, though, so we'll see if there are any pictures of the actual protest.

CAMERA reports some details on this case, including the blockbuster, "Police sources said on Sunday that autopsy findings indicated Aramin could have been killed by concussion from a shock grenade or by a thrown rock. However, they said, the findings were inconsistent with her having been killed by a rubber bullet: No bullet wounds were found on her body, and the skull injury that caused her death was a large one, whereas rubber bullets, even if they do not penetrate, usually make small wounds."

With that, I think I finally have enough of a story to cross-post this over at NewsBusters. Fair NB readers, I hope that you will not be disappointed by my work so far! Continue reading »

... with my whole apartheid, racist wall schtick, didn't you?

Sadly, I wasn't.



The top photograph will show up in newspapers around the world. But does it reflect reality? Let's look a little bit closer:



Oof, is that the end of the wall that I see? Real "racist" there, ain't it?

Let's be clear: The press does not want you to think about current events. They want you to "feel" them. By doing so, they control your entire thought process on what you're reading, and what you're seeing.

This series of photographs, to me, is one of the basest examples of propaganda I've ever seen. There's no logical reason for a photograph like this—it contains no information, but merely reduces the entire argument over the war to base emotions. And, as we all have learned over time, information transmitted by raw emotion can only be referred to as one word:—Propaganda!

UPDATE 21-AUG-2006 08:51 EST: I've completed the commentary which goes along with the photographs. Be sure to check it out by clicking on the "Read More" link below!

UPDATE 24-AUG-2006 12:34 EST: I WAS RIGHT! Check out this photo, which appeared on today's wires, sent by Zohra Bensemra of Reuters. Not quite as dramatic as Ben Curtis' dreck, but the same basic concept! Continue reading »