Well it looks like the Iraqi's are living it up

[kyleb]

but then looks can be deceiving with the propaganda machine rolling strong.

http://www.thememoryhole.org/media/evening-standard-crowd.htm

 

[Zero]

...And the propaganda machine rolls on. Why else is the administration so hostile to the free press? They think that their comfortable lies are better than the truth.

 

[kyleb]

a lot of people seem to think that for some reason.

http://www.fpp.co.uk/online/03/04/cartoons/cartoon3.html

 

[Zero]

150 happy Iraqis and Photoshop are exactly the same as 10,000 celebrating Iraqis? Only in our current Orwellian media culture.

 

[BoulderHead]

Kinda reminds me of the link Dissident Dan posted showing what appeared to be a staged media event of the Saddam statue being pulled down….Take your camera behind a few dozen Iraqi's staring at the GI's taking down the statue and build it up to be something akin to a national celebration.

 

[kyleb]

ya, i imagine at that time most of the Iraqi people were thinking something along the lines of "screw the damn statue, we could use running water and electricity a lot more right now."

 

[Zero]

Let's not forget that there have been REAL celebrations in history, that no one can deny, like when the Berlin Wall came down...and staged propaganda like the flag-raising on Iwo Jima.

 

[damgo]

Look, that's just ridiculous. A couple similar-looking blurs in a photo of a crowd, and it's obviously faked? Come on. They aren't even in the same relative positions.

As for the second, 1) journalists/photgraphers were all staying in the same place in Baghdad, and 2) usually travel around in groups. Quite likely a group went out of the hotel together, found some guy kissing soldiers, took a bunch of good pictures, and each photographer sold his picture to a different magazine. Absolutely no reason to think they're "supplied by some central source."

---

Not that I don't think the US media has been gived biased coverage; it obviously has. For example, you saw 24 hours of footage of a few hours celebrations in Baghdad -- and that statue falling like a zillion times -- but almost nothing about the ~5000 Iraqis protesting "No to America, No to Saddam" in Nassiriya Tueday, or the tens of thousands protesting the same in Baghdad yesterday.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A28216-2003Apr15.html
http://www.dailytelegraph.co.uk/new...19.xml&sSheet=/news/2003/04/19/ixnewstop.html

But that doesn't mean they are doctoring their photos and staging demonstrations in some sort of strange conspiracy... I mean, come on. That's why IndyMedia annoys me -- they do stuff like this that just gives ammo to the conservatives that like to portray all liberals as crazy anti-governement conspiracy theorists.

 

[Zero]

That one picture is very obviously doctored...it looks like the cameraman moved 10 feet to the left and took a second picture. Now, who doctored it is a totally different question. And, as far as staging celebrations...why wouldn't they? Isn't that waht the media does these days?

 

[damgo]

No, this photo was "obviously" doctored. I wouldn't have caught it, but some journalist did within hours and the photographer was quickly fired.
http://www.latimes.com/news/custom/showcase/la-ednote_blurb.blurb

Anyways... do you really think the vague similarity of some blurs in a crowd means it was doctored? Come on. I think the most convincing thing is IndyMedia's hack image analysis. They even admit the image came from a BBC 24 camera feed -- so why don't they just get the original video and show it for comparison? Should make it crystal clear.

 

[kyleb]

oh come on damgo, are your eyes really so bad that you need someone to get fired to accept that the picture is a fraud? also, guy kissing solders may have just really had a thing for men in uniform and was taking advantage of the moment.

 

[eNtRopY]

That reminds me of the time a certain Big-10 University (which shall remain nameless... but let's just say its initials happen to be UW) was criticized for photoshopping a black dude standing next to some white kids at a football game. Yeah, it's pretty bad when you have a school of +200,000 students and you can't find a single legitimate mult-cultural friendship.

eNtRopY

 

[russ_watters]

If I squint real hard, I can see a man in the moon too...

 

[Zero]

Originally posted by russ_watters
If I squint real hard, I can see a man in the moon too...

LOL, I cant see that one, no matter how hard I try...but I can see the guy in the white shirt and black collar twice, and the guy with the funny hair a few feet over from him twice.

 

[russ_watters]

Originally posted by Zero
LOL, I cant see that one, no matter how hard I try...but I can see the guy in the white shirt and black collar twice, and the guy with the funny hair a few feet over from him twice.

And all chinese people look alike to me...when at low resolution, out of focus, and facing different directions.

This thread is so absurd. Dammit, there's that word again. Where's my thesaurus...?

Damgo, btw, can you see why the pic you posted was doctored? The reporter liked the soldier's pose better in the first shot and the guy with the kid better in the second shot. The doctored photo doesn't really change the scene, but its a nicer looking photo.

 

[kyleb]

lol, it is an awful hack of a picture, the soldier looks like he is pointing his gun about six feet in front of the man, or is about eight foot tall. i think it is sad that anyone even attempted to pass off either that pic or the one of the crowd to the public; talk about a lack of respect for our intelligence.