Al-Reuters Explains
Thu, Sep 15, 2005 at 7:46:22 pm PDT
Reuters Explains Photo Of Bush Bathroom Note.
According to Hershorn, Wilking was one of several photographers covering the United Nations Security Council meeting between about 11 and noon yesterday. He was part of a pool stationed on a balcony that faced Bush’s back; a group of White House photographers was on a balcony facing the president.
Wilking shot about 200 images and sent two memory cards to the press room at the U.N., where Hershorn was working. Hershorn looked at the images on a computer and initially decided not to send any of them.
But a few hours later, he started to wonder about a note that Bush was seen writing in three of the pictures. Out of curiosity, he zoomed in to see if he could read it.
Once he saw what it said, Hershorn decided the note was interesting and worth publishing. The white parts of the picture were overexposed, so a Reuters processor used Photoshop to burn down the note. This is a standard practice for news photos, Hershorn says, and the picture was not manipulated in any other way.
Around 4:30 p.m., Reuters transmitted two versions of the photo, including one that was tightly cropped around the note and Bush’s hand.
Our post from yesterday about this story: lgf: Al-Reuters, Still Digging.
UPDATE at 9/15/05 7:57:29 pm:
Excuse me while I reset my irony meter:
Hershorn says he decided to transmit the picture because it was interesting.
“There was no malicious intent,” he says. “That’s not what we do.”
UPDATE at 9/15/05 8:05:04 pm:
Tony Abu Tuz gets histographic with it: Reuters manipulates news photo.
