UnNews:Iranian missile test photo 'digitally altered'

This article is part of UnNews, your source for up-to-the-picosecond misinformation.

17 July 2008

Tehran, Iran.

A photo of Iran's successful missile test that ran in newspapers and Web sites worldwide appears to have been digitally altered.

You decide.

Sepah News, the media arm of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, apparently doctored a widely distributed photo of Iran's missile test. The picture, obtained by Agence France-Presse from the Web site of Sepah News, landed on the front page The Los Angeles Times, The Chicago Tribune and several other newspapers including the National Post. It also appeared well on BBC News, MSNBC, Yahoo! News, NYTimes.com and many other major news Web sites.

The photo showed four missiles launching into the sky, with the third missile appearing to be a digital copy of two other missiles. The doctored image hides a launcher with an unfired missile.

AFP has since retracted the four-missile version, saying the image was “apparently digitally altered.” It has also been removed from the Sepah News site. It has also apologized-for not being kosher.

Photo: A combo of pictures shows (L) a handout image released by Iranian daily Jamejam online edition on July 10, 2008, showing three missiles rising into the air while a fourth remains in the launcher on the ground during a test-firing in an undisclosed location in the Iranian desert, July 9, 2008, and (R) the same image released by the news website and public relations arm of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, Sepah News, on July 9, 2008, apparently digitally altered to replace the grounded missile and launcher. (AFP PHOTO/HO/JAMEJAM ONLINE/AFP/Getty Images)

Sources

• Jeremy Barker "Iranian missile test photo 'digitally altered'" World, July 16, 2008