AP Suspends Use Of DOD Photos After Another Faked Hand-Out

From the National Press Photographers Association:
http://www.nppa.org/news_and_events/news/2008/11/general.html

Another Digitally Altered Department Of Defense Photo; AP Suspends Using Their Hand-Outs

SAN ANTONIO, TX (November 14, 2008) – The deputy director of photography at the San Antonio Express-News apparently knows a faked photograph when he sees one.

[both photos available at link above]

For the second time in two months, Bob Owen was looking at the Associated Press photography feed when last night he spotted a U.S. Army photograph that was provided to the wires that had been digitally altered.

Thursday evening a picture moved on the network of America's first four-star female general, Ann Dunwoody, and something about the picture didn't look right to Owen's eyes. He told staff photographer William Luther that he did a simple Google search after he became curious and he found the original image of Dunwoody seated at a desk. That same office photograph had been digitally altered to remove the background and to put her in front of an American flag.

The original office photograph shows only three stars on her uniform, the rank of lieutenant general. Dunwoody was promoted from lieutenant general to a four-star general. The altered photo shows no stars on her uniform.

When the digital alteration was discovered, AP immediately put out a "mandatory kill" message on the picture network and they began investigating.

Then late Friday, the Associated Press announced they are suspending the use of any photographs provided by the Department of Defense.

"For us, there's a zero-tolerance policy of adding or subtracting actual content from an image," said Santiago Lyon, the AP's director of photography.

Lyon said the AP is developing procedures to protect against further occurrences and, once those steps are in place, it will consider lifting the ban on military handouts. He said the AP also is discussing the problem with the military.

Meanwhile, the chief of the Army's media relations division told AP that the Dunwoody photo did not violate Army policy that prohibits the cropping or editing of a photo to misrepresent the facts or change the circumstances of an event. Col. Cathy Abbott says she does not know who altered the photograph.

"We're not misrepresenting her," Abbott told the AP. "The image is still clearly Gen. Dunwoody."

This was the second time Owen spotted digitally altered photos from the DOD and Army. Back in September, Owen spotted digitally altered Army on the AP wire after the Department of Defense handed out pictures of two soldiers who were reportedly killed at their patrol base south of Baghdad.

Dead were Staff Sgt. Darris Dawson, 24, and Sgt. Wesley R. Durban, 26. The face and shoulders of Dawson appears to have been pasted onto the picture of Durban, as the two images were identical except for the faces. Owen noticed that the pictures matched as he flipped back and forth, from one to the other, on a computer.

AP determined the photographs had been altered by someone either at DOD or the Army before it was handed out for public distribution. Today Abbott said the photo was altered because Dawson's unit did not have the official Army photograph of him and wanted one that was suitable for use in a memorial service.