Time for a small detour to talk of something outside India, but very relevant. Hope you guys heard about the scam wherein Reuters was exposed to have published a ‘photoshopped’ image of an Israeli air-strike on Beirut.
This blogger seems to have been the one to figure that Reuters photo was a fake. Someone (the photographer, an editor at Reuters, not known yet) apparently added dark smoke clouds to the original picture to make it look more dramatic.
This may be the first such well-reported case of a media-doctored image. But it just makes me think how many more stories (not just images) could be getting doctored behind the scenes before they reach us.
Citizen journalism – aka blogging or its variations – is perhaps the way to introduce that missing ‘check’ on the “media-politicos” collusion. We are not there yet, as the blogging world is badly disorganized, with bloggers fighting individual battles for eyeballs (no shame in saying myself included).
At least here in India, we badly need this ‘check’. For our media too sometimes hijacks and re-paints stories on popular issues. Refer to the recent baised coverage of the reservation debate.
We will get there.
Filed under: Indian Media
