Fake Mubarak photo continues to provoke reactions
A doctored photograph showing President Hosni Mubarak leading Mideast peace talks, published in a state-run paper continues to stir up international reactions.
The editor of Al-Ahram newspaper defended the digital manipulation of the photo by saying it was meant to show Mubarak’s key role in the peace process.
The original picture shows US President Barack Obama front and center as he leads Mubarak and three other world leaders on the red carpet as talks got under way on 1 September in Washington.
But Al-Ahram altered the photograph to show Mubarak taking the lead, with Obama slightly behind him and to his right, in a photo published earlier this week.
“The picture was meant to be expressive… as it puts President Mubarak in a leadership position in the new negotiations following the opening round in Washington,” Ossama al-Saraya, editor of Al-Ahram wrote on Friday. “[The picture] is a lively expression of the precise political position of President Mubarak in the Palestinian issue.”
The incident has stirred up a series of reactions from opposition activists and groups who considered the manipulation of the photograph as poor journalistic practice by the state-run daily. “What happened is a continuation of the state-run institutions’ practice of falsifying [information about] the elections, prizes and positions,” Omar Afifi, head of the Egyptian NGOs Coalition in Washington told Al-Masry Al-Youm.
The photographs also stirred some mockery from internet activists, who were the first to reveal the discrepancy between the original photograph and the manipulated one.
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I am an Egyptian and I am ashamed of this. I will never buy this newspaper again IN MLY ENTIRE LIFE! It's not the manipulation that helped me decide, but the Editor's excuse.
To comments #8 Arab National. It appears to me that you are not fully familiar with the media in Egypt. Only the government controlled media praises the regime. At the same time, we have private and independent media, both TV and newspapers editors that daily criticizes the regime for their activities. Kindly, tell me which Arab country other than Egypt where the media can criticizes their regime. Tell me which Arab media has covered the financial crises with the story of the Arab prince who in a matter of a few weeks has lost over 3B US$ in a European Bank?
The editor of Al-Ahram newspaper defended the digital manipulation of the photo by saying it was meant to show Mubarak’s key role in the peace process. This is unacceptable explanation. It is not shame to admit a mistake or wrongdoing. It’s the contrary. I would like to remind you when Toyota CEO was on hearing at the American Congress for the mistakes that were found in Toyota cars. He admitted the wrongdoing and said he will compensate the sufferers. It didn’t take long before their sale have been all time high. People will be respected when they admit mistakes and say the truth. Their heads will always be up.
There's an Arabic saying that goes "If you have no shame then do whatever you want" . . Ok . . being a Third World country where media praises the regime is one thing . . but this is different . . it's embarrassing and stupid!!! . . I hope people of Egypt soon realize that what is hapenning in their country is very unique . . something is wrong in many people's heads there . .
everything is fake in Egypt, they have tried to fake even sport, when Algeria played Egypt in Cairo, the media is Egypt only believe on fake not on the reporting the facts.
Who cares who walked in front? The only important thing is -did they get anything done?
egyptians are sick people, they still live in the 3000 bc era,
What's worse than this forgery is Al-Ahram's excuse... They changed the photo because of Egypt's leadership position!! Yea right...
I wonder where they would put his picture in a conference, say, that would address corruption in the third world countries?? :D