Update on the Iranian Missile Photoshop

Thursday, July 10th, 2008 1:01 pm by Neal

Last night we noted the Photoshopped, Iranian missle launch picture. Here’s the latest.

Michelle is now covering this story. She notes that the New York Times has issued this statement:

Updated, 9:33 a.m., Agence France-Presse has retracted the image as “apparently digitally altered.”

As news spread across the world of Iran’s provocative missile tests, so did an image of four missiles heading skyward in unison. Unfortunately, it appeared to contain one too many missiles, a point that had not emerged before the photo appeared on the front pages of The Los Angeles Times, The Financial Times, The Chicago Tribune and several other newspapers as well as on BBC News, MSNBC, Yahoo! News, NYTimes.com and many other major news Web sites.

Agence France-Presse said that it obtained the image from the Web site of Sepah News, the media arm of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, on Wednesday. But there was no sign of it there later in the day. Today, The Associated Press distributed what appeared to be a nearly identical photo from the same source, but without the fourth missile.

…Agence France-Presse retracted its four-missile version this morning, saying that the image was “apparently digitally altered” by Iranian state media. The fourth missile “has apparently been added in digital retouch to cover a grounded missile that may have failed during the test,” the agency said.

Here’s another hi-lighted view of the altered image that more clearly shows the alterations:

In the four-missile version of the image released Wednesday by Sepah News, the media arm of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, two major sections (encircled in red) appear to closely replicate other sections (encircled in orange). (Illustration by The New York Times; photo via Agence France-Presse)

Here’s what appears to be the original, unaltered photo. Iran made this one available today.

another image that The Associated Press received from the same source on Thursday.

So, Iran alters an image of four missiles launching because one of them failed. So, they Photoshop the fourth one in, get caught, and now are the laughing stock of the entire world. What morons.

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