5 replies to this topic

[Sexpat]

The Nation ran what it called a "Photo Clarification" today, after a report on CNN suggested that a photo of the "multi-colored" rally held in Bangkok had been altered to make the crowd look bigger. It appears that the Nation did edit the photo to crop out an empty area next to the crowd, creating the impression that the entire area was filled with people.

This is how the Nation tried to explain the apparent cropping:

Despite claims to the contrary in CNN's Ireport section, we would like to reaffirm to all our readers and interested parties that all photos published in The Nation newspaper and The Nation's website ... as well as all other media outlets of Nation Multimedia Group, are genuine.

[Click here to view the photo in large version]

And when it comes to Thailand's political crisis, we have made extra efforts to ensure there is no distortion or misinformation about the fragile situation.

All photos of rallies by the pink shirts, or multicoloured shirts, at the 11th Infantry Regiment base on Friday were taken by photographers dedicated to their work, who were at the rally site from start to finish. Naturally, the photos selected for publication were ones featuring the number of protesters at their peak. It has been the same for all rallies, whether it is the red shirts or others. All we did was adjust the brightness of the photo to make it printable. Nothing was doctored. There was no alteration whatsoever. We showed the photos as they had been taken."

Judge for yourself at: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/home/2010/...n-30127345.html

[mahjongguy]

... a report on CNN...

As The Nation article stated, it was an iReport. "The stories in this section are not edited, fact-checked or screened before they post.".

[B.I.G.]

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Nothing was doctored. There was no alteration whatsoever.

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We just cropped the photo.

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[mahjongguy]

News photos are cropped 99% of the time. This is because news photographers are taught to include extra space around all four sides, allowing the editor to make the final choice regarding photo size, proportion, etc. Now that we amateurs can easily edit our own photos, this manner of shooting is a good practice for all of us.

In this case, if The Nation wanted to convey an endless sea of people they would have cropped the photo a bit (more) at the top. But, they did not. You can see where the crowd tapers out, thus there is nothing misleading about the photo.

Whatever your feelings about The Nation's reporting may be, this accusation made by an anonymous contributor to CNN's blogsite has no merit. There has been a lot of "spin" put on photos and videos by both sides, but this photo seems innocent.

[TheYenta]

The Nation: "And when it comes to Thailand's political crisis, we have made extra efforts to ensure there is no distortion or misinformation about the fragile situation."

I have to confess I almost choked on my morning croissant when I read that humdinger. I stopped accepting as facts anything the Nation reports long ago, starting when they threw roses at the coup. I do read it daily on the internet, however, just to see if there are any limits to its propagandizing. If anyone has been inciting people to violence in the past few weeks, it has been the Nation and a few of its rabid writers calling for a violent crackdown on protesters with claims that all they are doing is defending the monarchy - by killing Thai people ?

[Hedda]

It's obviously true that photos get cropped for publication all the time, but given the shameless propaganda that the Nation has been passing off as news recently, and the defensive way in which it reacted to an accusation by one anonymous blogger, I'd have to say someone is being very defensive - and properly so. Me thinks the Nation doth protest too much.

The press in any country do great disservice to the nation and their own integrity when they abandon their role as journalists and become the mouthpiece for governments. In the case of the Nation, some of its most prominent writers have sided with some of the most reactionary elements in Thai society, letting their editorial prejudices hemorrhage into their coverage of the "news." They perversely support coups and violence, provided they are perceived as pro-royalist, but condemn all talk of reforming the monarchy as tantamount to "treason" or lese majeste.

Cropping photos may be normal to fit the page; cropping facts to fit the party line is despicable.