[EdGreene]

Kerry 'dirty tricks' claim over doctored photo

Click here to see the enlarged photo

Ciar Byrne
Tuesday February 17, 2004

Photo: appears to show Kerry and Fonda sharing a stage at peace rally

Fresh allegations have arisen of a dirty tricks campaign against John Kerry after it appeared that a photograph of the US presidential hopeful sitting next to anti-Vietnam war activist Jane Fonda was doctored.
The picture, which appears to show Mr Kerry and "Hanoi Jane" sharing a stage at a 1970s peace rally against the war, was circulated around the world via the internet and picked up by newspapers and TV.

However, the photographer who took the shot of Mr Kerry, Ken Light, has come forward and questioned why Ms Fonda appears in the picture when she was not in the original.

"I'm horrified. I think this kind of alteration is probably one of the scariest forms of trickery - particularly when it's done against a political candidate," Mr Light told the Daily Mail.

The image that has been flashed around the world over the past few days appears to be an amalgamation of a picture of Mr Kerry preparing to address an anti-war demonstration on Long Island in June 1971, and Fonda speaking at a protest against the war in Florida in August 1972.

It made its first appearance on the internet several days ago, following the publication of another photograph, believed to be authentic, which showed Mr Kerry sitting three rows behind Fonda at an anti-war rally.

Mr Light said that his original picture had sat on his files for years, before he decided to send it to his agent, Corbis, two weeks ago.

It seems likely that Republican opponents of Mr Kerry took the photograph from Corbis's online archive and digitally altered it to look like a newspaper clipping, complete with a credit to AP Photo, the photographic arm of international news agency Associated Press.

AP's London office today said it had received requests for the photograph but had been unable to trace it in either its UK or US archives.

The picture subsequently appeared on a number of pro-Republican websites and became the focus of fresh media attention.

Mr Kerry fought in Vietnam, winning several decorations including three Purple Hearts, a Silver and a Bronze Star.

His supporters have made much of his service for his country, in contrast to President George Bush, who was excused Vietnam duty.

However, Mr Kerry was also the co-founder of the organisation Vietnam Veterans Against the War, and is shown in the picture taken by Mr Light preparing to address an anti-war demonstration.

Republicans have attempted to portray Mr Kerry as a close political ally of Fonda, who enraged the pro-Vietnam camp by visiting Hanoi during the war.

However, Ms Fonda has said she barely knew Mr Kerry.

The UK's press watchdog recently clamped down on the use of digitally altered images in newspapers, outlawed by its code of practice, when it reprimanded a local newspaper in Luton for doctoring an image to highlight the growing problem of prostitution in the town.

Luton on Sunday admitted amalgamating two images - one of a woman posing as a prostitute and one of a real street corner after a reader complained the picture was intended to "alarm or dismay".

On a lighter note, the Daily Mirror won a What the Papers Say award in 2002 for a digitally altered picture of the Argentinian football team carrying handbags.

· To contact the MediaGuardian newsdesk email editor@mediaguardian.co.uk or phone 020 7239 9857

· If you are writing a comment for publication, please mark clearly "for publication".

[LANMaster]

So what?

Since when have you ever been worried about the facts?
I've seen GWBush slammed in here daily with nothing more reliable than heresay. Who cares if the photo is accurate?
The anti-Bush crap is coming back to bite.
Nothing is off the table.

Fonda and Kerry might just as well have been together in that photo.

They shared a nearly identical pro-Communist, pro-Viet Cong, anti-American stance. And they were featured speakers at several anti-war protests and rallies.

[Stoner]

Well...LAN! I am shocked

However, all the yelling and shouting about Bush does appear justified as evidence comes to light of his crimes

[Chris A]

Who ever said that the picture was legit? I never once saw it posted as a news story other then some dumb reporter trying to make a story out of a doctored picture he found on the net.

[Stoner]

I'm sure we'll be seeing many more 'doctored' photos in the future

[Chris A]

People Dr pictures of Bush and others all the time. Never see stories pointing that out..

Like I said that picture was never used by any news source as a basis for a story showing proof that Kerry was a anti-Vietnam war activist.

Just more news bias trying to bury the real photos that came out in a cloud of doubt. They find one picture and scream loud and hard that it was doctored hoping that the dumb masses of people will assume it was the real one they actualy saw on the news.

The problem is that it once again points out that the Late Liberals are out of touch with what the people want.

[Stoner]

What's a Late Liberal?

[Stoner]

What do you think the 'people' want?

[Chris A]

My Bad Latte Liberal


Well lets see people want what they vote for.. Not people who think they know what is best for us. Classic Example would be Mayor Gavin Newsom.

[Stoner]

ChrisA, I'll have to admit, I don't know California politics, so the situation with Newsom is unknown to me.
Maybe you could fill me in?


Oh, and I take my coffee black with sweetner, prefer instant(quicker to make )
and I'm not a Liberal
I'm an exile from the Republican party, a moderate

[Chris A]

San Francisco is violating a ballot measure approved by California voters in 2000 that said only marriages between a man and woman are valid.

Gavin Newsom Decided that we were wrong to vote that in. Gavin Newsom Thinks he knows what is better for us as Californians. He thinks that by forcing a legal challenge to this law that it will make it through the courts. Activist judges are a crap shoot..

Edit: Damn Keybord!

[AcaCandy]

Lol, dirty tricks and politics in the same sentence........what next, we send a man to moon


Whoa, wait, I like the way that sounds......good title for a book maybe

[LANMaster]

Originally posted by Stoner:
Well...LAN! I am shocked

However, all the yelling and shouting about Bush does appear justified as evidence comes to light of his crimes

Crimes? Now you're calling him a criminal?

I don't know of any legitimate court that has charged the President with a crime.

[LANMaster]

Originally posted by AcaCandy:
Lol, dirty tricks and politics in the same sentence........what next, we send a man to moon

Didn't you know?

We never sent any man to the moon, it was all a big Republican conspiracy designed by Richard Nixon to wag the dog away from Vietnam and Watergate.

Didn't you get your memo on the far Left talking points?

[Stoner]

Originally posted by LANMaster:
Crimes? Now you're calling him a criminal?

I don't know of any legitimate court that has charged the President with a crime.

Perhaps you are thinking of the word ...felon

Websters>>

Felon1 7fel$!n8
n.
5ME < OFr < ML felo, earlier fello < ?6
1 [Obs.] a villain
2 Law a person guilty of a major crime; criminal
adj.
[Old Poet.] wicked; base; criminal

felon2 7fel$!n8
n.
5ME < ? same base as prec.6 a painful abscess or infection at the end of a finger or toe, near the nail; whitlow


+++++++++++

And yes, he is also a pain

(perhaps you missed the illegal war Bush lead? )
(perhaps you missed the lies he told to get the US involved in a war? )



So....if a court never charges anyone in the land of LAN, are there no criminals?...........I don't think so