We received the following email from Steve Herrmann, editor of the BBC News web site. Herrmann was responding to our Dishonest Reporter Awards 2006 in which we singled out a Martin Asser report for “Worst Use of Props.” Asser was covering the return of Lebanese civilians to homes in Bint Jbeil after the Israel-Hezbollah war. (See the original blog entry here.)
Herrmann writes:
Dear Sirs
We would like to correct your allegation of dishonest reporting by BBC journalist Martin Asser in your list of “2006 Dishonest Reporter of the Year Awards”. It is completely false to say the boy was used as a “prop” in the photograph (which was taken by BBC News photographer Phil Coomes). The truth is that Asser and Coomes witnessed – and honestly reported – a scene repeated countless times whenever photojournalists are at work: bystanders get in the shot and pose, either of their own accord or encouraged by others – in this case their elders.
The article draws attention to and graphically illustrates an important aspect of the conflict – the dangers to returning inhabitants of places like Bint Jbeil at the time, in an area littered with unexploded ordnance. Your inclusion of it in a list of notorious occasions of misleading picture captions and manipulated photographs is itself utterly wrong and disingenuous. Ironically, it may have been Asser’s candour in explaining the boy’s presence in the published photograph that alerted those looking for examples of “fauxtography” in the BBC’s coverage of the Lebanon conflict.
Yours sincerely
Steve Herrmann
We do appreciate Asser’s candor noting that the boy was pushed. The info that Herrmann adds–which Asser didn’t mention in his report–is that 1) the child was pushed next to the unexploded shell by village elders, and 2) that this occurred repeatedly in other situations.
While HonestReporting didn’t mention who specifically pushed the boy, Herrmann strengthens the essential point of this particular award. It was only due to the presence of photographer Coomes that the boy was pushed–simply to create a photo-op. Coomes surely had plenty of other unstaged photos of people returning to their homes and looking at the shells. In our view, publishing this particular photo makes the BBC complicit in the Lebanese photo-op.
Did HonestReporting overreact? Is the BBC complicit? Are the ethics of journalism at play clear-cut or gray? Post your comments below.
