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Reuters sets tighter guidelines for news photographs
Reuters has established stricter editing guidelines for its news photographers in response to its publication of two photos that had been digitally altered by the photographer who took them. At the same time, the news service terminated its relationship with the freelance photographer, Adnan Hajj, who is Lebanese, and dismissed the chief photographer for the Middle East for his handling of the matter. Reuters named Stephen Crisp, a Briton who has worked for he service in a variety of senior positions since 1985, as the new chief photographer for the Middle East.
During the war between Israel and Lebanon in August of 2006, Hajj submitted two altered photos which Reuters went on to publish; one depicting smoke over Beirut in which he had increased the amount of smoke and one showing three rocket flares from an Israeli fighter jet where, in fact, there was only one flare. Reuters has purged the two doctored images and several hundred other images submitted by Hajj from its archive. Regarding the incident, David Schlesinger, Reuters editor-in-chief, said "We are fully satisfied that it was unfortunate human error that led to the inadvertent publication of two rogue photographs. There was absolutely no intention on Reuters part to mislead the public." He added, "We have shown that when mistakes are made we take responsibility and make changes."
Schlesinger announced tighter rules and guidelines for editing news photography allowing only senior photo editors to deal with sensitive images, investing in more training and supervision and strengthening its code of conduct for photographers.
Posted in: News, Photographers
