When you’re a state-run newspaper, you’re at the will of the bosses. In this case, the state of Egypt is the boss of the Al-Ahram newspaper, which also happens to be Egypt’s largest newspaper. Perhaps that’s why the photo editors at Al-Ahram got a little creative in their coverage of the Middle East peace talks by moving President Hosni Mubarak from the back of the group of world leaders to the front in one of the worst Photoshop jobs I’ve ever seen.
Egypt’s opposition party critics are pouncing on the manipulated photo. “This is what the corrupt regime’s media has been reduced to,” said the 6 April Youth Movement on its website, adding that the paper had “crossed the line from being balanced and honest.” Meanwhile, the photo manipulation serves as a way to draw attention away from the important Middle East peace talks and putting it on the much less important ability of Egyptian newspapers to do Photoshop on their pictures.
For comparison purposes, here’s the original photo.
Tags: Al-Ahram, Egypt, state-run newspaper, propaganda, photoshop, Hosni Mubarak, Barack Obama, Middle East peace talks, newspaper photoshops Mubarak into photo, unusual photo, photo manipulations, newspaper fail