Associated Press
Tuesday, August 8, 2006

The Reuters news service said yesterday that it has cut its ties with a Beirut-based freelance photographer after finding he had manipulated two photographs from the ongoing fighting in Lebanon. It also removed all 920 of his photographs from its database.

The agency said that it will now require that all images from the Middle East be reviewed by the top editors at its global photo desk.

One of the photographs by Adnan Hajj showed the aftermath of an Israeli air strike on an area of suburban Beirut. It had been manipulated using computer software to show more and darker smoke rising from the buildings.

Reuters ended its relationship with Hajj on Sunday after reviewing that photo. Yesterday, the news service discovered he had also manipulated a photograph of an Israeli jet fighter over southern Lebanon and dated Aug. 2. Hajj changed the image to show three flares being dropped by the fighter, instead of just one, the company said.

According to a Reuters spokeswoman, Hajj denied deliberately attempting to manipulate the image. He said he was trying to remove dust marks and made mistakes because of bad lighting conditions, she said Sunday.

The Washington Post has published three photographs by Hajj during the conflict, but neither of the ones found to have been altered.

"There is no graver breach of Reuters standards for our photographers than the deliberate manipulation of an image," Tom Szlukovenyi, global photo editor of Reuters, said in a statement from London, where the company has its headquarters. "Reuters has zero tolerance for any doctoring of pictures and constantly reminds its photographers, both staff and freelance, of this strict and unalterable policy."

Hajj has also worked as a freelancer for the AP, which said it is examining his archived photos.