The World Press Photo (WPPH) awards are among the most prestigious international prizes for photojournalism. This year’s WPPH Second Prize for ‘News Stories’ was granted to German Kai Wiedenhöfer (at right) for a series of 12 photographs entitled ‘The Wall, Israel Occupied Territories’. The sole caption for the photo essay on the WPPH site:
In 2002 Israel began to construct a 700-kilometer-long security barrier in the West Bank saying that it was designed to stop suicide bombers. Palestinians complained that the barrier was illegal and that its route cut off hundreds of farmers and traders from their land and means of economic survival. [link]
Wiedenhöfer’s entry rode this year’s wave of international criticism of the West Bank security fence. Yet three of Wiedenhöfer’s winning photos labeled as the ‘West Bank barrier’ are not, in fact, anywhere near the West Bank. These three shots were taken on the southern Gaza border with Egypt:
The corrugated metal fence in the top two photos identifies it as Rafah, and the bottom photo is alongside Gaza’s Philadelphi corridor (where Palestinian arms smuggling has been rampant ― hence the destruction). Wiedenhöfer himself acknowledges the location of the top photo on his personal web page.
World Press Photo says its mission is ‘[t]o encourage high professional standards in photojournalism.’ Wiedenhöfer’s photo essay in its current state on the WPPH web site is inaccurately captioned, undermining that very goal.
HonestReporting encourages subscribers to write to World Press Photo, requesting an explanation for miscaptioning of these photos.
Comments to: [email protected]
It should further be noted that one of Wiedenhöfer’s photos that does portray the West Bank barrier is the site where, on June 17, 2003, Palestinian terrorists used drainage pipes to access the Israeli side, where they opened fire on the family car of 7-year old Noam Leibowitz (at right), killing her instantly:
No indication whatsoever of this fact appears alongside the photo of the barrier and the (now) highly-secured drainage pipes.
