Charlotte Sun Editor Says Altered Photo On AP Network Was An Honest Mistake

 

Updated May 7, 2007, 11:45 a.m. CST

(May 6, 2007) – A photograph that was the subject of a mandatory photo elimination bulletin by the Associated Press on Friday because it had been digitally altered was the result of an honest mistake, and not an attempt to publish a doctored photograph, the executive editor of the Charlotte Sun told News Photographer magazine today.

“It was the photographer herself who made the discovery and called AP and asked them to kill it,” Jim Gouvellis said today. “After turning in her photo [for the Charlotte Sun] she was making a file for a reprint [for resale to a customer]. There was a strap or something in it. That’s not the file she turned in for the paper; that picture didn’t run in the paper. You can see in today’s paper the unaltered photo is the one that ran.”

Gouvellis said the cleaned-up file that was made for the resale print was never intended to go to AP or anywhere else, that it was to be used only for a customer who was purchasing a print.

"If you are going to publish a news photograph one way, why would you sell it in a different way? It's still the newspaper's product," John Long, NPPA's Ethics & Standards chairperson said today. "The newspaper still has to vouch for its integrity. Avoid the possibility of using the wrong photograph: don't create the wrong photograph to begin with."

It’s not clear how the reprint file got confused with the publication file, but Gouvellis said that as soon as the photographer discovered what happened she took immediate action and called AP. Gouvellis said he believes there was no intention to deceive, and that the incident was truly “a mix-up" and that he’s satisfied with the explanation.

The picture came to many newspaper editors’ attention Friday when AP issued a mandatory photo elimination bulletin to their clients that said, “Please eliminate FL VEN101 transmitted May 4, 2007. The photo was digitally altered by the source.” The advisory gave no additional explanation of the circumstances surrounding the alteration, leading some editors to think that the intentional doctoring of a photograph had been discovered. The unaltered version of the photograph moved later Friday on the AP network.

The picture in question showed a dog leaping through the air and soaring over a pool of water during a fetching competition in the Splash Dogs jumping challenge, which is a part of the “Oh Boy! Oberto Redfish Cup” event in Punta Gorda, FL.

In the first version of the photograph distributed by AP, the left side of the image shows only clear blue sky with white clouds. In the version of the photograph that moved on the AP network after the elimination bulletin, there is an item that looks like a cord, or possibly a rope or leash, that can be seen on the left edge of the image, just slightly behind the dog’s legs.

Shot on Friday, the unaltered picture ran as the Charlotte Sun’s lead art on Saturday’s front page, above the fold. The picture was credited to Charlotte Sun photographer Sarah Coward, an NPPA member since 2003.

Reached via eMail on Sunday and asked for comment, Coward's reply was, "My editors will be speaking on my behalf."

NPPA's Code of Ethics states that nothing can be done to an image that in any way "deceives the reader," which includes not only removing or adding content, but can also include overdoing toning, burning, dodging, and color balance in some cases.

Picture editors and photojournalists are especially sensitive these days on the issue of doctored and altered photographs in light of the events of the past few weeks, which include the revelation that Allan Detrich of The Toledo Blade was serially doctoring images submitted for publication; that The New York Times published a news photograph that was shot, and then doctored, by a person working on their own picture desk; and that some newspapers and magazines digitally altered the content of one of Alan Kim's dramatic news photographs from the Virginia Tech campus massacre.

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