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| 5/24 |
| 2005/9/15-17 [Politics/Domestic/President/Bush] UID:39698 Activity:kinda low |
9/15 Reuter's Dan Rather moment? -jblack
Reuters Photo Is A Fraud? matches neither Bush's or Condi's
handwriting. Reuter's admits to photoshoping.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1485300/posts?page=1,50
\_ The fact is, according to Reuters -- and this has not
been widely reported -- President Bush did indeed take a
bathroom break after passing the note to Rice.
http://csua.org/u/dee
\_ I don't get it. Why is it a big deal that someone had to use the
bathroom in a long meeting and wanted his subordinate to break the
meeting for some reasonable period of time so everyone could take
care of basic human functions? Why would such a note make someone
look silly as someone says below? Why would Reuters waste precious
bits showing us such a note on a *news* wire? Where's the news?
It must be that nothing important is going on in the world... oh
wait.
\_ even the most powerful man in the world needs to pass a note for
a bathroom break!
\_ For the same reason they show Ashcroft with the seminude statue
of Justice behind him, because it is humorous. Ye gods! Does
Katrina mean the end of irony and humor AGAIN ala September 11?
\_ As usual, the freeper comments are a bit over the top.
http://csua.org/u/de9
\_ You are mis-using "photoshoping", which implies that the photo was
faked up. Photoshop was used to adjust the exposure / white
balance so that the words could clearly be seen.
\_ Great freeper story
\_ "Great" as in "totally wrong"? Or "Great" as in "Showing them
for the small minds they are"?
\_ The latter. It just shows you that any evidence is
immediately suspect by freepers if it doesn't show their
dear leaders in the best light possible.
\_ I noticed it was sharpened/contrast-enhanced or whatever but I doubt
it's a fake. It is possible though that the top of the note was
written by Condi and Bush is replying, which would make Bush look
less silly.
\_ Possible, yes. Likely, no.
\_ indeed, isn't bush silly enough as it is?
\_ I didn't see why it was newsworthy at all. But I can't see a
problem with adjusting the contrast etc. of a photo. -emarkp
\_ not newsworthy. tabloid-worthy though!
\_ This is like Tucker Carlson accusing John Stewart's comedy
show of being "partisan hackery".
\_ Fake handwriting? If you're talking about the upper part of the
note, the capital "M" of "May" and the "th" of "think" along with
the Reuters story are enough to convince me it's not faked.
Both forms of capital "I" are also in the first URL.
http://www.sheilalowe.com/images/gwbush.gif ('99 GW Bush memo)
http://csua.org/u/ded (Reuters close-up)
\_ What is facinating is the mishmash of upper and lower case
letters along with the random cursive letters. The note lacks
a Rovian consistancy that one expects from this president.
\_ I go with the earlier freeper explanation of "he really had
to go"
\_ It'd be cool if the doctored photo was a freeper plant
to make the liberal evil media look mean. -John |
| 5/24 |
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| www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1485300/posts?page=1,50 -> www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1485300/posts View Replies To: Rodney King It might just be an artifact of the program used to sharpen. I see the sa me thing with regular unaltered images I sharpen with Google's Picassa. View Replies To: antaresequity What tips me off that it's fraudulent is that the top writing is so clear and the bottom writing, which is about the same size, is completely ill egible. View Replies To: nuffsenuff I'm sure it's a fake and even if it wasn't, WHO CARES? He is human and maybe wanted Condi to suggest a break so he could take a leak. View Replies To: Terabitten No, that should tip you off that there are two writers. Condi wrote the t op note, he's writing the bottom note. Geez, one Freeper scores a forgery scandal and now everyone's a conspirac y theorist. Tm3PA-- US President George W Bush raises his hand to vote as US Secretary o f State Condoleezza Rice and US Ambassador to the UN John Bolton look on during the 2005 World Summit, at the 60th session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York. View Replies To: Blurblogger In the lower image, you can see the square clipping or square pixel regio ns around the actual text on the note. When an image is doctored or graphically manipulated by cutting and pasti ng other graphics into it, there always is a clear demarcation between t he added graphic and the original graphic. It would be especially acute in this circumstance given the 32 bit color level of the original image. In other words there are thousands of shade s of white that actually make up the white memo paper. Only the most skilled and diligent graphics artist, given time, would be able to completely blend the two images together. This in my opinion is a slipshod slap it together cut and paste job by a low level hack. If you attempt to sharpen a JPEG image, you wi ll always get those around regions of high contrast (because of the way JPEG compression results in an averaging of the contrast difference, and the 'border' is enhanced'. View Replies To: antaresequity I think it is clear that Bush is responding to a note from someone else. I'm wondering how the Reuters photographer knew the precise moment to sna p a picture of that. The material you mention i n those images are known as JPEG Compression Artifacts. They occur in ev ery image that is stored in JPEG format, no matter how high the image qu ality. View Replies To: mcg1969 LOL, so we all have Buckhead envy. It still seems odd to me that the writing itself on the top is so clear a nd the writing on the bottom impossible to read. I'm not talking about p enmanship - I'm talking about the clarity of the actual letters. Besides, I think it's been reported upthread that the photo is "enhanced. View Replies To: antaresequity Hershorn says The (Toronto) Globe and Mail published it but he wasn't sur e of any other outlets. Hershorn says he decided to transmit the picture because it was interesting. View Replies To: antaresequity Or it could be an entirely genuine picture of a piece of paper with CONDO LEEZA RICE'S handwriting at the top, and his continuation at the bottom. In fact, when I read the initial Drudge headline that's exactly what I ASSUMED it was. If this had been a Democrat President and any of us had pulled this stunt on him, we'd have been rightfully chided as being childish and petty. B ut, for reasons all-too-unfortunately clear, this trash is a news story with Reuters and WaPo because it bags on the "dumb" Republican President . As an aside, I have to wonder why the Democrats like to go on about Bush being "dumb." If he's so "dumb," then how did he manage to beat the livi ng snot out of their golden child, hmmm? View Replies To: Terabitten It still seems odd to me that the writing itself on the top is so clear a nd the writing on the bottom impossible to read. I'm not talking about p enmanship - I'm talking about the clarity of the actual letters. If you attempt to sharpen a JPEG image, you wi ll always get those around regions of high contrast (because of the way JPEG compression results in an averaging of the contrast difference, and the 'border' is enhanced'. last Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works. |
| csua.org/u/dee -> www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1001137788 REUTERS/Rick Wilking US President George W Bush writes a note to Secretary of State Condole eza Rice during a Security Council meeting at the 2005 World Summit and 60th General Assembly of the United Nations in New York Sept. accidental photo of Presiden t Bush at the United Nations on Wednesday, writing a note to Secretary o f State Condeezza Rice about a bathroom break, was indeed real, newspa pers around the US and abroad are now planning to run it widely. But m any, it seems, will treat it as something more than a joke. A source at the Washington Post tells E&P that the paper is considering i t for prominent play Friday morning, in the context that, at least in so me minds, it raises questions about overall perception of the US at th e United Nations, right or wrong. Reuters reports extremely strong inter est in the photo today. The fact is, according to Reuters -- and this has not been widely reporte d -- President Bush did indeed take a bathroom break after passing the n ote to Rice. This apparently raised some eyebrows around the room, because American re presentatives (among others) have a reputation for suddenly bolting, tho ugh normally for a far different reason than this latest one. Fair or no t, the European press has already had a field day with the photo, often centering on the notion that Bush had to ask Rice for permission. The Times of London, for example, ran no less than three separate article s about it on its Web site, one at the top of its front page. Another story, believe it or not, opens: "The need to relieve one self diplomatically has on occasion determined the fate of nations." The third discusses the sordid history of the particulatar lavatory in ques tion, and contains this passage: "Medical experts said that the 59-year- old President was wise not to wait any longer." The headline at the BBC news site suggested that Bush had been "caught sh ort" at the UN summit. Der Spiegel in Germany translated a bathroom break" as "eine Toiletten-Pause." And, of course, it made The Daily Show back in the US late Thursday nig ht. Gary Hershorn, news editor-photos for the Americas at Reuters, told E&P t oday that the photographer, Rick Wilking, informed him yesterday afterno on that he had observed Bush pass the note to Rice, and a little later, rise from his seat, leave the room, and then return. gripping images in New Orleans, was out to embarrass the president, Hershorn said that the photojournali st had no idea what Bush was writing on the paper. Wilking assumed the p resident was taking notes on what some other official was saying. Rick had no idea what he was shooting, or what Bush was writing, Hersho rn said. If Rick knew what he was writing we'd have 25 pictures of this , not two. The photo was taken at 12:08 pm and it was Hershorn, about three hours later, who took the trouble to examine the photo closely. It was only th en that he noticed the writing and decided to put it on the wire after 4 :00. E&P observed Wednesday night in the first story about t he incident, shows Bush scribbling in pencil on a note that already hold s the words: "I think I may need a bathroom break? Wi lking is a veteran Washington photographer who has long covered Bush cam paigns and the White House. As for transmitting the photo, Hershorn says, "There was no malicious int ent. There's a simple explanation, even a serious one, for all of this, he add s Bush, he points out, is not used to attending meetings at the UN an d probably did not know what the protocol was for exiting a room and ret urning. His question to Rice was proper and not all that surprising, asking someone with more experience there about protocol, he said. Wilking told Gelf magazine today that he has not yet heard from the presi dentwhom he says he knows very wellabout the note. Im curious to kno w what the White House thinks, Wilking said. One British expert says, "I think even in 50 years' time there will be ne wspapers on paper, though they may be a niche product then, perhaps in t he same way vinyl records are now." Journal' Casts Aside Staid Image By Saturday morning, a new edition of the traditionally staid and starche d newspaper will start landing on doorsteps, featuring not only financia l and political news, but also a weekend's worth of recipes and reviews, sports, and fashion. Ethnic News Organizations Find a New Angle on Katrina Story With passion and pride, ethnic news organizations in the US are coverin g the Hurricane Katrina story from angles not seen in many of the nation 's major metropolitan newspapers. |
| csua.org/u/de9 -> www.pdnonline.com/pdn/newswire/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1001137642 That's the message from Gary Hershorn, a picture editor for Reuters, abou t the photo yesterday that shows President George W Bush writing an all -too-human note during a UN meeting. Bush is shown writing: "I think I may need a bathroom break. The photo, which quickly became fodder for blogs and e-mails among friend s, was taken by Rick Wilking, a contract photographer based in Denver wh o recently covered the flooding in New Orleans. Hershorn, Reuters' news editor for pictures for the Americas, says he's r esponsible for zooming in on the note and deciding to transmit the photo to Reuters clients. He says Wilking didn't know what the note said when he shot the picture. He was just the gu y who pushed the button," Hershorn says. In response to the attention the photo is getting, Reuters' spokeswoman i n London released a two-sentence statement about the picture: "The photo grapher and editors on this story were looking for other angles in their coverage of this event, something that went beyond the stock pictures o f talking heads that these kind of forums usually offer. According to Hershorn, Wilking was one of several photographers covering the United Nations Security Council meeting between about 11 and noon ye sterday. He was part of a pool stationed on a balcony that faced Bush's back; a group of White House photographers was on a balcony facing the p resident. Wilking shot about 200 images and sent two memory cards to the press room at the UN, where Hershorn was working. Hershorn looked at the images on a computer and initially decided not to send any of them. But a few hours later, he started to wonder about a note that Bush was se en writing in three of the pictures. Out of curiosity, he zoomed in to s ee if he could read it. Once he saw what it said, Hershorn decided the note was interesting and w orth publishing. The white parts of the picture were overexposed, so a R euters processor used Photoshop to burn down the note. This is a standar d practice for news photos, Hershorn says, and the picture was not manip ulated in any other way. Around 4:30 pm, Reuters transmitted two versions of the photo, includin g one that was tightly cropped around the note and Bush's hand. The caption says that Bush was writing the note to Secretary of State Con doleeza Rice; Hershorn says Wilking saw Bush write the note and hand the note to Rice. Hershorn says heads of state seldom attend Security Council meetings, and it's possible that Bush was simply asking his secretary of state what t he proper protocol was to be excused. Online, some accused Reuters, and the media in general, of being insultin g or juvenile. Editor & Publisher wrote, "You oug ht to all be ashamed of yourselves for this stupid trivia and childish f ocus." Hershorn says The (Tor onto) Globe and Mail published it but he wasn't sure of any other outlet s Hershorn says he decided to transmit the picture because it was inter esting. |
| csua.org/u/ded -> news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/050914/ids_photos_ts/r2587077477.jpg News Photo Photo Reuters - Wed Sep 14, 4:39 PM ET US President George W Bush writes a note to Secretary of State Condole ezza Rice during a Security Council meeting at the 2005 World Summit and 60th General Assembly of the United Nations in New York September 14, 2 005. World leaders are exploring ways to revitalize the United Nations a t a summit on Wednesday but their blueprint falls short of Secretary-Gen eral Kofi Annan's vision of freedom from want, persecution and war. |