Did major international media, including wire services Reuters and The Associated Press, clumsily help spread pro-Georgian propaganda during the recent war with Russia? Perhaps so, based on possibly staged photos by Reuters photogs David Mdzinarishvili and Gleb Garanich, and George Abdaladze, an Reuters AP shooter.

Several blogs, most notably Byzantine Blog, have highlighted some, ahem, curious details in a series of photos claiming to portray civilian casualties of Russian attacks on the town of Gori.

Danger Room pal Bryan William Jones, himself a photographer, brought our attention to this. On his own he noticed details in several pics that he says "made me sit up and say WTF?" One series of photos from Gori might show bodies changing location and poses, while one photogenic Georgian man appears in several different photo series, shot by different photogs, "grieving" for the dead ... apparently without ever looking at the camera being shoved in his face.

The photos are especially suspect when compared to clearly real snapshots from the conflict, Jones points out.

Of course, Russia hasn't exactly been BS-free in this conflict; Moscow's claims of 2,000 killed in South Ossetia were later debunked by Human Rights Watch. The real number: fewer than 100.

Update, 9/5/08: Asked for comment yesterday, Reuters photo editor Gary Hershorn just scoffed, "A bunch of bloggers!"

"I got nothing to say to you. I'm not allowed to talk to you," he added.

This morning Reuters media rep Alexandra Honeysett referred me to an official statement, written in Russian, from Reuters' Russia head Michael Stott. She helpfully provided this translation: "Local reports in Russia have inaccurately accused Reuters of issuing staged photographs in its coverage of the conflict in Georgia. These accusations are completely false and entirely unfounded."

Reuters has investigated the situation and firmly stands by its reporting and coverage, and adheres to the Reuters Trust Principles, specifically, "that the integrity, independence and freedom from bias of Reuters shall at all times be fully preserved."

Aside from that, Reuters has no comment, Honeysett said.

The statement includes links to the digital negatives of many of the photographs in question. While they do provide more context, I'm not sure the negatives necessarily prove that the photos weren't staged. All we have here are more photos warranting scrutiny.

Some commenters at this blog are convinced that the accusations of staged photos are way off base. They point out that using different camera lenses in the same shoot can create the illusion that subjects in the photos have moved, when in fact they've been in exact same spots all along.

I'm trying to reach The Associated Press now. Stay tuned.

Update, 9/6/08: "We stand behind our coverage of this conflict," says Jack Stokes, AP spokesman.

(Photo: AP)

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