History Talk

I'll Always Be Here · Guest

Wanna play photo-interpreter just like the real guys in the CIA and
DIA do? Start by going to the iimages at the cite below. Read the text
and find Waldo, cheap op not the sort a real country with a real set
of missiles would do. Like the Soviet Union or the Peoples Republic of
China.

In an Iranian Image, a Missile Too Many

By Mike Nizza and Patrick Witty

In the four-missile version of the image released Wednesday by Sepah
News, the media arm of Iran's Revolutionary Guard, two major sections
(encircled in red) appear to closely replicate other sections
(encircled in orange). (Illustration by The New York Times; photo via
Agence France-Presse)

Updated, 1:23 p.m., Agence France-Presse has retracted the image as
"apparently digitally altered."

As news spread across the world of Iran's provocative missile tests,
so did an image of four missiles heading skyward in unison.
Unfortunately, it appeared to contain one too many missiles, a point
that had not emerged before the photo appeared on the front pages of
The Los Angeles Times, The Financial Times, The Chicago Tribune and
several other newspapers as well as on BBC News, MSNBC, Yahoo! News,
NYTimes.com and many other major news Web sites.

INSERT DESCRIPTIONThe Los Angeles Times, The Palm Beach Post and
Chicago Tribune, among others, used the image on the front pages on
Thursday.
INSERT DESCRIPTIONOur homepage at 3:56 p.m. on Wednesday.

Agence France-Presse said that it obtained the image from the Web site
of Sepah News, the media arm of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, on
Wednesday. But there was no sign of it there later in the day. Today,
The Associated Press distributed what appeared to be a nearly
identical photo from the same source, but without the fourth missile.

As the above illustration shows, the second missile from the right
appears to be the sum of two other missiles in the image. The contours
of the billowing smoke match perfectly near the ground, as well in the
immediate wake of the missile. Only a small black dot in the reddish
area of exhaust seems to differ from the missile to its left, though
there are also some slight variations in the color of the smoke and
the sky.

Does Iran's state media use Photoshop? The charge has been leveled
before. So far, though, it can't be said with any certainty whether
there is any official Iranian involvement in this instance. Sepah
apparently published the three-missile version of the image today
without further explanation.

For its part, Agence France-Presse retracted its four-missile version
this morning, saying that the image was "apparently digitally altered"
by Iranian state media. The fourth missile "has apparently been added
in digital retouch to cover a grounded missile that may have failed
during the test," the agency said. Later, it published an article
quoting several experts.

Top, the image that Agence France-Presse obtained from Sepah News on
Wednesday. Below, another image that The Associated Press received
from the same source on Thursday.

http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/07/10/in-an-iranian-image-a-missile-
too-many/index.html?hp