On Friday, the editor of a newspaper owned by the Egyptian government admitted that a photograph published this week in its pages had been altered to make it seem as if Egypt’s president, Hosni Mubarak, had led, rather than followed, a group of world leaders walking in to a media event at the White House last week.
As The Lede explained on Thursday, an Egyptian blogger had noticed and publicized the fact that the newspaper had manipulated a news photograph in a way that seemed to flatter Mr. Mubarak without informing readers that the image was not real.
Ossama Saraya, the editor of Al Ahram, Egypt’s oldest daily, argued in an editorial that the altered photograph “was meant to be expressive,” of what he called, “the precise political position of President Mubarak” in the quest for peace in the Middle East, the independent Egyptian newspaper Al Masry Al Youm reported. The editor defended the image as an expression of Mr. Mubarak’s “unique role in leading” the talks.
Late on Friday, the altered photograph was still being featured in a slide show on the home page of the newspaer’s Web site.
Wael Khalil, the blogger who spotted the trickery, told The Associated Press that the manipulation was a “snapshot” of a how Egyptians are misled on a daily basis on a range of issues. “They lie to us all the time,” he said. “Instead of addressing the real issues, they just Photoshop it.”
On Friday Mr. Khalil told CNN, “This is the Mubarak we know, this is the regime we know, there is no surprise there.”
On Friday, the editor of a newspaper owned by the Egyptian government admitted that a photograph published this week in its pages had been altered to make it seem as if Egypt’s president, Hosni Mubarak, had led, rather than followed, a group of world leaders walking in to a media event at the White House last week.
As The Lede explained on Thursday, an Egyptian blogger had noticed and publicized the fact that the newspaper had manipulated a news photograph in a way that seemed to flatter Mr. Mubarak without informing readers that the image was not real.
Ossama Saraya, the editor of Al Ahram, Egypt’s oldest daily, argued in an editorial that the altered photograph “was meant to be expressive,” of what he called, “the precise political position of President Mubarak” in the quest for peace in the Middle East, the independent Egyptian newspaper Al Masry Al Youm reported. The editor defended the image as an expression of Mr. Mubarak’s “unique role in leading” the talks. Late on Friday, the altered photograph was still being featured in a slide show on the home page of the newspaer’s Web site.
Wael Khalil, the blogger who spotted the trickery, told The Associated Press that the manipulation was a “snapshot” of a how Egyptians are misled on a daily basis on a range of issues. “They lie to us all the time,” he said. “Instead of addressing the real issues, they just Photoshop it.”
On Friday Mr. Khalil told CNN, “This is the Mubarak we know, this is the regime we know, there is no surprise there.”
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