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August 10, 2007

More Reuters photo fraud uncovered (updated)

Thomas Lifson
Barely over a year ago, in the midst of Reuters being proven to have fraudulently Photoshopped a picture of Beirut under attack, I wrote that founder Julius Reuter must be spinning in his London grave. Poor Julius has not gained any more peaceful repose a year later. This time the fraud is not even political, and the person who busted the formerly prestigious news agency turns out to be a 13 year old in Finland.

The U.K. Guardian reports: 
News agency Reuters has been forced to admit that footage it released last week purportedly showing Russian submersibles on the seabed of the North Pole actually came from the movie Titanic.

The images were reproduced around the world - including by the Guardian and Guardian Unlimited - alongside the story of Russia planting its flag below the North Pole on Thursday last week.

But it has now emerged that the footage actually showed two Finnish-made Mir submersibles that were employed on location filming at the scene of the wreck of the RMS Titanic ship in the north Atlantic some 10 years ago.

This footage was used in sequences in James Cameron's 1997 blockbuster about the 1912 disaster.

The deception was only revealed after a 13-year-old Finnish schoolboy contacted a local newspaper to tell them the images looked identical to those used in the movie.
Which is worse: biased or sleazy?

A blogger who behaved this way would be shunned.

Hat tip: Little Green Footballs

Update: Reader Marty Lyle emails:

The full article in The Guardian now carries this passage:
"The mistake was only revealed after a 13-year-old Finnish schoolboy contacted a local newspaper to tell them the images looked identical to those used in the movie."
Looks like The Guardian is covering for Reuters -- when was the word changed from "deception" to "mistake?"

Posted at 12:54 PM | Email | | Share Share
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