More on GatesGate, the Norwegian journalist Bjørn Benkow now admits that he faked interviews with Bill Gates, Oprah Winfrey and Michael Schumacher “to pay the rent”.
A related matter is the doctored Reuters photo from Beirut. Notice the tone and lenght of the article where Aftonbladet reports about the photoshopped photo and Reuters apology, compared to the short statement where they commented on the fake Gates interview in Aftonbladet.
Aftonbladet discredits the photographer further. Compare Aftonbladet’s comment below with the one from Reuters:
Aftonbladet: “The freelance photographer who sold the photo has previously attracted attention for selling photos of dead children in Lebanon.”
Reuters: “He was among several photographers from the main international news agencies whose images of a dead child being held up by a rescuer in the village of Qana, south Lebanon, after an Israeli air strike on July 30 have been challenged by blogs critical of the mainstream media’s coverage of the Middle East conflict.
Reuters and other news organizations reviewed those images and have all rejected allegations that the photographs were staged.”
Oh, and the next person who claims that blogs don’t influence mainstream media, is grounded:
“Reuters withdrew the doctored image on Sunday and replaced it with the unaltered photograph after several news blogs said it had been manipulated using Photoshop software to show more smoke.”