Paper Apologies for Running Fake Photo (Boston Globe)

[TacticalPeek]

Paper Apologies for Running Fake Photo

By Associated Press

May 13, 2004, 11:52 AM EDT

BOSTON -- The Boston Globe apologized Thursday for
running a photo containing sexually graphic images that
purported to show U.S. soldiers raping Iraqi women.

In an editor's note, the newspaper said the photograph
"did not meet Globe standards for publication" because
the images "were overly graphic and the purported abuse
portrayed had not been authenticated."

The photo accompanied a story Wednesday concerning
a news conference held by Boston City Councilor Chuck
Turner and Sadiki Kambon, director of the Black
Community Information Center. Several photographs
were displayed at the news conference showing men in
unidentified military uniforms engaged in sex acts with
unidentified women. Turner told reporters the authenticity of the photos couldn't be
verified.

more
http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/nation/wire/sns-ap-newspaper-abuse-photo,0,7120909.story?coll=sns-ap-nation-headlines

[sniffa]

1. this is a HUGE issue

here (boston) in the boston heraLd, and WRKO (i think that's it - the taLk station that carries howie carr, Limbaugh etc).

what's odd to me, is that counciLar chuck turner heLd a news conference. the gLobe covered the conference.

how does that stain the gLobe, and not turner?

[Tempest]

2. Wrong pictures, but story of rape is still true

Senators who viewed the pictures yesterday stated there were pictures of Iraqi women being raped by US soldiers and Iraqi police.

[maggrwaggr]

6. hey it's not rape, it's "forced sex"

:eyes:

[Tansy_Gold]

18. In the romance novel business, we called it

"forced seduction."

Seriously.

It was still rape.


Tansy Gold, former romance novelist who knows whereof she speaks (and posts)

[AP]

3. Note that they don't say the photo was fake. Oddly, they're...

...apologizing for running something they didn't confirm was real.

Well, what they hell are they doing over there at the Globe?

They should be apologizing for not doing their job, which should be oh, say, INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM! They should be apologizing for not being able to tell us whether these photos are real or fake after they've been out there on the internet for over a week.

This apology reads more like an, 'oops, we're sorry, we almost reported on something the public really needs to know' sort of apology.

[struggle4progress]

7. Is the photo known to be fake?

Same article in a different paper with a different headline:
Boston Globe apologies for running photo of graphic, unauthenticated picture
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/nation/20040513-0846-newspaper-abuse-photo.html

I think this might be the origin of the photo story; the article clearly raises authentication issues:
Councilor takes up Iraq issue (11 May)
A Boston city councilor distributed graphic photographs yesterday that he said showed US soldiers raping Iraqi women. <more>
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2004/05/12/2_cite_photos_purported_to_show_abuse/

Whatever the story on THIS ONE PHOTO, there seem to be others (which are authentic) showing forced intercourse:
Lawmakers say new Iraq prison photos include disturbing images of torture (12 May)
The abuse of Iraqi prisoners by U.S. military personnel included torture, humiliation and forced sex beyond what has been seen in public, chagrined members of Congress said Wednesday after viewing fresh photos and videos.
<snip>
Lawmakers said they saw disturbing images that included military dogs snarling at cowering prisoners, Iraqi women commanded to expose their breasts and photos of sex acts, including forced homosexual sex.
<more>
http://www.boston.com/dailynews/133/wash/Lawmakers_say_new_Iraq_prison_:.shtml

And now for my :tinfoilhat: Who is behind these fake pictures or fake picture stories? There are over 1800 authentic photos out there, although it is unclear how many will ever be seen. Just the sort of situation in which the status quo would love to muddy the waters and to crank up the mirror puzzle machine. the fake pictures generate press coverage about fake pictures. Press coverage about fake pictures, now in Britain and maybe here too, discredits the real pictures. Six months from now, the marginally engaged, too lazy to sort it all out, may remember only that they heard something about fake pictures.

[NashVegas]

11. Competition for Headlines / Story

This is the result of the immediacy of the web, IMO. Too bad the Globe is too stingy to keep a debunker in the copy room.

[AP]

13. Why don't they just get a few investigative reporters on stafff

who might be able to tell us whether the pictures are authentic?

That seems to be the obvious thing to do in this situation.

[ima_sinnic]

4. frankly I'm getting sick of everybody "apologizing" all over the place

--it's going to become like, "well, I SAID I was sorry (snicker snicker), what more do you want?"

[fishnfla]

5. Are these the photos that were debunked here 2 weeks ago?

they were from a porno movie or something?

[boobooday]

8. Wait, I got one for them!

http://www.wgoeshome.com

[Don_G]

9. I Read The Parent Company Was Furious

The New York Times can't afford to make many more mistakes of that nature.

[NewYorkerfromMass]

10. tinfoil here: Who's trying to discredit the Globe?

Seems like a VRWC move to take down the Globe a notch.

[rawstory]

12. Fake?

The article says nowhere that they're KNOWN to be fakes. At least not the article you linked.

[TacticalPeek]

14. Agreed. What can I say? It's Newsday's headline.

Maybe taking a little journalistic license on a competitor?

[AP]

15. Globe is onwed by the NYT and they're helping the adminstration.

The Globe should be apologizing for not doing the investigatve reporting required to tell us whether the pictures are real or fakes.

What happened, it seems, is that they ran the pictures which gives them the imprimatur of being facts. Some Republican freaked out and called the paper and told them to write this stupid apology which misses the entire point.

The Globe cooperated.

[demdave]

19. The Globe doesn't need any help being discredited.

They are doing a fine job, all by themselves. Read my post below. It has a link to an article by the porn industry, about the porn industry. The pictures are fake and the films have been for sale for quite some time as porn.

[demdave]

16. FAKE, debunked by the porn industry that created the images.

http://www.avn.com/index.php?Primary_Navigation=Articles&Action=View_Article&Content_ID=82983

Warning: This company, AVN, is an adult movie producer. As such, there are adult images on their site and there is at least one pop-up. However, the article details the companies and the products that these images were taken from.

P.S. I use Zonealarm and McAfee for protection from nasty internet nasties. While I got no alarms or detections from this site, I feel that I should state.....enter at your own risk.

[fishnfla]

17. yeah, these were debunked around here 2 weeks ago

a couple of DUers fell for them too, I think one person is claiming still that it is "up to the goverment to prove they are not true"

one of the websites mentioned in your link there piggybacked them onto the torture photos from the prison

its getting so you cant trust nothing you see anymore.