Update: Citing Promises, AP Lifts Military Photo Ban
After yet another incident of the Department of Defense issuing a digitally altered photo to the media, it was announced that the Associated Press would be suspending the use of all photos provided by the Pentagon until further notice. Today, citing a promise from the Pentagon to avoid distributing altered images, they lifted the ban.
This was the second time in the last few months that the DoD has been caught issuing a photograph to the media that was digitally altered. In September, they issued two photos of slain soldiers that were obviously identical beyond the face, name, and rank.
The army insists that it did nothing wrong, as its policy only prohibits issuing edited photos that misrepresent the facts of an event. The AP insists that submitting altered photos for any reason damages the credibility of photos distributed by the military.
willb
November 18th, 2008 at 1:14 pm
The AP wants real blood, you betcha.
Not some phony airbrushed baloney or
new fangled digital simulacrum.
No.
We want real blood.
Now.
Or we’ll take our business somewhere else.
November 18, 2008 « Quis Custodiet Ipsos Custodes?
November 18th, 2008 at 1:37 pm
[...] [...]
Brad Smith
November 18th, 2008 at 4:02 pm
The AP is a true parigon on virtue (yah sure right). I guess this would be a step in the right direction. As for the DOD, the only surprise is that they got busted, or that anyone dared to call them on it. In our dumbed down society only sound bites and gore catch the entertainment starved public’s attention. For a great read check out America the Illiterate by Chris Hedges.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article21239.htm It goes a long way in explaining how our non-journalistic press can get away with the garbage they put out.
Peace!
Lear K
November 18th, 2008 at 6:11 pm
“The army insists that it did nothing wrong, as its policy only prohibits issuing edited photos that misrepresent the facts of an event”
That’s must be a joke!
the whole job of the army is to misrepresent everything.
David Carlson
November 18th, 2008 at 8:50 pm
It is quite unfortunate how the pentagon needs to alter the truth. We need to hold government accountable for their actions, the problem is – where do we even start?
-DC
David Carlson Politics
FirstCasualty
November 19th, 2008 at 12:34 am
Ap is an absolute joke and always has been. We could start at the problem of the Ap itself. It fails to inform yet is the news service of choice for almost all news services? Laughable.
damocles
November 19th, 2008 at 3:27 am
I guess the real story is that the rest of the media, except AP, will continue to publish doctored photos from the Pentagon without notifying their readers of the deception.
Mooser
November 19th, 2008 at 8:03 am
Live fast, die young, and leave a good-looking corpse. The Army can handle the first two, why shouldn’t they try for the trifecta?
liberranter
November 19th, 2008 at 8:23 am
“The army insists that it did nothing wrong, as its policy only prohibits issuing edited photos that misrepresent the facts of an event”
And this month’s Doublespeak Award goes to (drum roll, please)… the Pentagon!
liberranter
November 19th, 2008 at 8:29 am
One of the State’s biggest propaganda organs complaining about receiving “doctored” photos? I guess they’re just upset that they weren’t given the opportunity to do the job themselves, probably in what they consider a more “professional” manner. Rich irony indeed.
Don Diego Padrone
November 19th, 2008 at 11:04 am
A.P. and propaganda? Nah, no way! Wait, doesn’t A.P. stand for ‘accumulated propaganda’?
Andy
November 19th, 2008 at 2:10 pm
Well if the amazingly gullible American people are willing to swallow the ‘big lie’ about WMD, why wouldn’t they believe a few doctored photos?
Lear K
November 20th, 2008 at 6:24 am
Many Americans are very delusional who can’t comperhend or face the truth when it becomes very clear.
richard vajs
November 20th, 2008 at 2:37 pm
Things are coming apart for the Establishment in this country like a pair of cardboard shoes. All the lies, all the hype, all the bs that has been shoveled out these last thirty some years has overflowed and gotten into the drinking water.
I predict that sleeping under bridges and eating from soup kitchens is going to raise the intelligence level real fast in this country. The future is not bright for either the Pentagon or AP. Being part of the arrogant Establishment in this country might have the same risks as went with being part of the royal retinue at the Palace of Versailles – one day eating/drinking good and playing grabass with the courtesans and the next day awful smelling peasants want to cut your head off.
Brad Smith
November 20th, 2008 at 4:15 pm
The wheels are falling off the cart, no doubt. I think our rulers get that too. Let’s see how hard they try to take our guns, that should be an early indicator. Do you think this is why Obama was thrown in as our new king? Has anyone noticed how fast the cost of ammo and guns has already gone up? I know this is probably just a knee jerk reaction (people stocking up), but sometimes your first thought is correct.
I don’t want to see anyone losing everything they have worked for, but if that’s what it takes to live in a free nation once again it would be worth it. I would rather live free in the woods and off the land, than have to bow before anyone.
Peace!
Erin
November 20th, 2008 at 7:29 pm
You can’t spell CRAP without AP!
Lear K
November 21st, 2008 at 6:29 am
Maybe the plan is for everyone,but the few,to lose everything in order to turn all into serfs for the few.
Brad Smith
November 21st, 2008 at 9:08 am
I hate to say it but I think your right. The question is, how long will the serfs remain sheep? Our rulers are probably counting on our obediance untill they can at least bail out with their plunder.
Peace!
Kenneth
November 21st, 2008 at 10:08 am
Richard- I’m not generally one to rain on the parades of others, but it seems to me you vastly overestimate the American public. It is far more likely that as conditions grow worse scapegoats for the problems will be sought and attacked (immigrants, liberals, homosexuals, and whatever else Fox News lists) and the fans of a fratricidal religious and cultural chauvinism will be fanned. It is very doubtful that the American populace will be roused from its ideological stupour long enough to see the real source of its problems and react accordingly. Perhaps I exaggerate, but from what I have seen Americans are, in general, bereft of capacity for constructive civic engagement.
Vassili
November 21st, 2008 at 12:23 pm
First, you should understand that nothing is very new under the Sun :-)
Remember Roman Empire, that the US is modeled after this way or another. Republic ended with dark ages.
I live in Russia and therefore I’m more optimistic about the legacy of Byzantine Empire. It was based on the notion of the Emperor as top Power.
The competition is not over.
Personally I don’t like republic due to exactly the fact that about 85% of human beings are omegas, with 5% being alphas (which are equally unappealing), thus by necessity human society has to be organized in a non-equal manner – the only real choice is to arrange it in a way more or less favorable to betas.
So – people are either sheep, fat cats, or “middle class” – and the latter is the only driving force for human civilization. Former are really animals, although they may be able to speak and pretend to have some values, and even talk to God :-)
Very telling is the rotation between Bush and Obama – the latter symbolizes that very majority sheep population – since the truth is that blacks en mass do not belong to either fat cats or middle class categories, whereas Bush clearly shows the animal nature of top power.
Compare this to a very favorable rotation between Putin and Medvedev in Russia – both being clear members of middle class. Of course the problem of “animals” dominating society can be clearly seen in Russia as well, but at least the top power is represented by humans.
Something that does not happen under the republic (or d-word) arrangement usually….
Brad Smith
November 21st, 2008 at 1:51 pm
Very interesting Vassili. There are definately many comparisons that can be made between the US and the Roman Empire. Although I think the US was doing OK as a republic but lost it as it moved more and more into the role of an Empire. Having a fat cat run the show when we had a republic guarded by the constitution was one thing, electing a temporary emperor is another.
The fact that Obama symbolizes the lower classes and that Bush symbolizes the rich is just that a symbol. In reality they both represent the corporate rulers. An equal amount of sheep voted for each. The sheep don’t realize that Obama and Bush are not shepherds but wolves in sheep’s clothing, intent on merging socialism with fascism, while maintaining the empire at any cost.
I don’t really know what to think of Putin and Medvedev. They may well be shepherds guarding the sheep and herding them towards safety, but I just don’t know enough about them to have a real opinion.
Peace!
subHuman
November 22nd, 2008 at 3:06 am
AP is pro-regime media house, of course their duty is to promote regime’s agenda.
Pravda and TASS performed same function in the other evil empire till the collapse.
Vassili
November 22nd, 2008 at 6:16 am
I don’t like shepherds much more then I like wolfs – both work towards the ultimate goal of slaughtering the sheep – sooner or later :-)
But so far I have not heard anything from both of them that I can call an obvious lie. So far they manage the Russia corporation well enough, prompting sheep to convert into humans, and containing fat-cats, and that is best one can expect from a politician.
Being blessed with not having an ideology helps a lot…
Lear K
November 22nd, 2008 at 8:22 am
“The five Algerians were joined for most of their stay at Guantanamo by Al Jazeera camerman Sami Al-Haj, who was abducted in 2001 while attempting to enter Afghanistan to cover the war there for Al Jazeera, imprisoned at Guantanamo without ever being charged with any acts of terrorism, questioned almost exclusively not about Al Qaeda, but about the work of Al Jazeera, and then, after more than six years, unceremoniously released with no charges or findings of any wrongdoing whatsoever. As Reporters Without Borders summarized:
Regularly tortured and subjected to close to 200 interrogation sessions by his jailers, Sami Al-Haj began a hunger strike on January 7, 2007, in protest against his detention and to demand that his rights be respected. In retaliation, his jailers force-fed him on several occasions. His lawyer, Clive Stafford-Smith, who visited him in July last year, said he had lost about 40 pounds and was suffering from serious intestinal problems. He was also subject to bouts of paranoia and was finding it increasingly difficult to communicate normally.”
http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2008/11/21/journalists/index.html
Brad Smith
November 22nd, 2008 at 8:25 am
Right on. It sounds like your lucky to have the leaders you have. In the US there haven’t been leaders for a while only rulers. If things keep going the way they are you may soon see some emigration back from the US. My Great Grandfather was in the Guards during the reign of the Czar and fled with his family including my Grandfather. I would love to come and visit your country sometime but you know how it goes always one thing pushing out another.
Peace!
Lear K
November 22nd, 2008 at 8:28 am
CNN to Al Jazeera: Why Report Civilian Deaths?
“As the casualties mount in the besieged Iraqi city of Fallujah, Qatar-based Al Jazeera has been one of the only news networks broadcasting from the inside, relaying images of destruction and civilian victims– including women and children. But when CNN anchor Daryn Kagan interviewed the network’s editor-in-chief, Ahmed Al-Sheik, on Monday (4/12/04)– a rare opportunity to get independent information about events in Fallujah– she used the occasion to badger Al-Sheik about whether the civilian deaths were really “the story” in Fallujah.”
http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=1587
Andy
November 22nd, 2008 at 8:35 pm
They don’t call them the sheeple for nothing you know.
Richmond Greens » War on Terrorism = War on Journalism
November 23rd, 2008 at 12:06 pm
[...] I don’t think we can retire from speaking truth to power. From Liberty Underground: Antiwar.com reports that the Associated Press (AP) has lifted a ban on using photographs provided by the [...]
liberranter
November 24th, 2008 at 7:36 am
Today, citing a promise from the Pentagon to avoid distributing altered images, they lifted the ban.
Uh-huh. Junkies and alcoholics routinely “promise” that they’ve sworn off the substance of their addition, just like Barack Obama “promised” that he’d bring “change.” Adolf Hitler also “promised” not to invade any of his other neighbors after swallowing up Czechoslovakia.
Would anyone care to lay a bet as to how soon it will be before the Pentagon provides AP with pics even more blatantly “doctored” than those that prompted this uproar, with nary a peep from AP from here on out?
Andy
November 24th, 2008 at 10:33 am
Hey if the Pentagon “promises”, that’s good enough for me.
K Street Kriminal
November 25th, 2008 at 12:53 pm
I heart the AP, and Bizarro World! You should see how much it pays!
lester ness
November 30th, 2008 at 1:06 am
So what did they change? If it’s something minor, like hiding the name tag on a shirt, OK. If it’s something major….
Anyway, one should always be sceptical of whatever one reads/sees/hears, from public media or private, like this outfit.
Lester Ness
Gregg W
December 8th, 2008 at 11:55 am
Forget altered pictures, how much longer will these needless wars for Israel continue? Will it ‘change’ under Obama? Highly doubtful. Israel already owns Obama after he picked Rahm Emanuel, the son of a terrorist, as Chief of Staff. Obama will probably let Mossad slide on their 9/11 involvement and Obama will continue Middle East wars. So who won the US election? Israel did, as always.