Mass Media Podpeople “Fauxtography”

I updated “Fiddlin’ Around” yesterday to include references to the faked up photo featured in a NYT “photoessay” online. Before I put my oar in with this post, a h.t. to Michelle Malkin for the “fauxtography” neologism. (She’s the first one I’ve seen use it. Yeh, maybe I don’t get out much, but there it is… :-))

Here’s the “pieta” (again, MM, with one really obvious addition by me:


CLICK the image for a popup enlargement

Seems the NYT is now claiming the image wasn’t fake in any way, but that it was only miscaptioned.

A picture caption with an audio slide show on July 27 about an Israeli attack on a building in Tyre, Lebanon, imprecisely described the situation in the picture. The man pictured, who had been seen in previous images appearing to assist with the rescue effort, was injured during that rescue effort, not during the initial attack, and was not killed.

OK, all this you can get from Michelle Malkin’s post. But what she’s too principled to point out (I’m not–*heh*) is that this is just more lying. The picture is posed. Examine it carefully. I’ve circled one lil clue (the guy almost aping limp unconsciousness—or death—firmly clutching his green hat between his left arm and his body. Needs acting lessons and better direction, IMO).

First, the NYT strongly implies the guy was killed in the bombing, then, when it’s pointed out he was not, they retrench to a position that he was injured in the cleanup. They just can’t bring themselves to call an obviously staged picture an… obviously staged picture.

I can recall once—long ago—sitting on a jury while Cyril Wecht gave us, the jury, a short symposium on examining evidence. I’d need someone of his caliber to examine video footage of the actual event and compare it to actual injuries supposedly sustained before I’d credit the NYT’s NEW story.

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