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AP clarifies Romney photo caption

The Associated Press has updated its caption to the above photo of Mitt Romney after drawing fire from FoxNews.com and other conservative websites for what some dubbed a "cheap shot" against the candidate.

The photo, one of six the AP distributed from Romney’s visit to an elementary school in Fairfield, Va., shows Romney crouching down while a student looks down -- or, it would seem, at his rear-end -- in surprise. The original caption read, "Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney poses for photographs with students of Fairfield Elementary School, Monday, Oct. 8, 2012, in Fairfield, Va."

The new caption: "Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney poses for photographs with students of Fairfield Elementary School, Monday, Oct. 8, 2012, in Fairfield, Va. A student, right, reacts as she realizes Romney will crouch down directly in front of her and her classmates for the group photo."

UPDATE (Wed. 11:43 a.m.): AP Senior Vice President and Executive Editor Kathleen Carroll now says the AP "fell short" of its standards:

The original caption on the photo of Gov. Romney taken Monday at a Virginia school was literally correct -- it said the governor was posing for photos with schoolchildren. But it was too generic and missed the boat by not explaining exactly what was happening. The student with the surprised expression had just realized that the governor was going to crouch down in front of her for the group photo. We amended the caption on Tuesday with that explanation, but by then many people had seen the photo and were confused by or angry about it. Those generic captions help us process a large number of photos on a busy campaign day, but some photos demand more explanation and we fell short of our own standards by not providing it in this case.