Visual ethics – Part 2

It’s not only still photos falling under suspicion this week, but video as well.  An Associated Press story outlines concerns about tornado footage that may have been altered.  At issue is video sold to the AP by a freelancer who says it depicts a recent tornado in Nebraska.  However, another news photographer contacted the AP to suggest it was actually video taken during a storm in Kansas four years ago.

The AP had sent [the] video Sunday to nearly 2,000 Web sites that subscribe to the company’s Online Video Network, and more than 60 large digital customers that buy AP’s online content individually. Upon seeing the evidence, the AP eliminated the video from OVN and contacted its other customers to urge them not to use it, said Kevin Roach, the AP’s acting head of domestic broadcast news operations.

“We never want to mislead people,” Roach said. “Based on evidence provided to us, we believe that the video was not authentic.”

Roach said the AP looked at the two video streams side-by-side, and examined individual frames of the footage in making its determination. He also asked for opinions from a photo editor and third storm chaser, Roach said.

“It was rather definitive for us,” he said.

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