[chootsonege]

Nope, pictures aren't real, they represent real things.

[JesexhiSeeces]

Perhaps this was one of those AP photos that was faked.

[EvaQWmrm]

oh wait, the ones from august '07 are from afp

hmm

now that the original question has been resolved, i have two additional questions i'd love to hear though-out answers to:
(1) how often has this kind of thing been on the past? i mean, i understand that staged photos have been common, but how often has the quality of journalists from so many sources failed so completely that photos as obviously staged as these ones have ended up on all the major (mainstream, "legitimate") newspapers on most (>50%) of the countries in the world?
(2) why do AP and AFP still have any sort of credibility among local newspapers after these fiascos? why are they still used as middlemen to gather photos?

[lh88gFzI]

Lying and faking reports like this is endemic to the Arab world.

[AndrewBoss]

"I'm not dead! I feel fine! I feel happy!"

[liontutuxx]

Originally posted by VJ
(2) why do AP and AFP still have any sort of credibility among local newspapers after these fiascos? why are they still used as middlemen to gather photos? It's probably the awareness that no news agency is generally immune to such stuff.

[11Pecepebra]

Originally posted by Oerdin
Lying and faking reports like this is endemic to the Arab world. What if its about you and a 48" pizza?



Spec.

[gogFloark]

Originally posted by Dauphin
Herd mentality and the assumption that others are right probably plays a big part. Well, yeah.

I thought no adult would be stupid enough not to realize that those pictures are staged, but Tebhen and Zoid are making me doubt my earlier thoughts. I really can't seem to find any examples of photos this staged and this wide-spread in the 90s, 80s or 70s, but the Flynn effect has seemed to reverse around 10 years ago, anyway.

depressing