February 21, 2004 5:41 AM

A little Photoshop goes a long way....

Doctored Kerry photo brings anger, threat of suit: Software, Net make it easy to warp reality

I was completely shocked and a little disappointed there would be this type of fakery in a political campaign. You become very concerned for democracy when you realize people are so angry, they're desperately trying to find anything to tilt the direction of what people are thinking.

- Kenneth Light

It would be too easy to rail against the shameless manipulation of the truth. Then again, this has been a Republican stock in trade for so long that it's hardly newsworthy anymore. Still, if the person or persons guilty of this manipulation of the truth can be found, they deserve to be held accountable.

The photographer who snapped John Kerry attending a 1971 anti-war rally says he and his photo agency intend to track down -- and possibly sue -- whoever doctored and circulated a photo that made it appear that the then 27-year-old Vietnam veteran was appearing alongside actress Jane Fonda.

Ken Light, now a UC Berkeley professor of journalism ethics, says he photographed Kerry at an anti-war rally in Mineola, N.Y., on June 13, 1971. The decorated Vietnam veteran was preparing to give a speech at the rally -- but Fonda was never at the event.

Light's photo gained prominence when someone took it and merged the shot of the now Democratic presidential front-runner with another separate photo of Fonda -- one taken by photographer Owen Franken as the actress spoke to a 1972 rally in Miami Beach, Fla.

The fabricated Kerry-Fonda photo was circulated with an identifying logo of the Associated Press and became the subject of talk show fodder after it was placed on many Web sites as evidence of Kerry's "anti-American" activities after his war service.

The only "anti-American" activity going on here is the Photoshopping of a 32-year-old photo to create something blatantly false and inflammatory. If Republicans could actually debate John Kerry on the issues, I might be willing to ignore this sort of crap. The problem is that they cannot, so we'll no doubt be seeing more of these dishonest, mean-spirited, and unethical personal attacks. This has nothing to do with John Kerry's ability and qualifications to be President. It has everything to do with doing whatever it takes to make Americans think that John Kerry is some sort of anti-American Communist sympathizer. This will, of course, deflect attention for the inadequacies, lies, and deceptions of the current occupant of the White House. You can bet that you won't see Republicans addressing THAT.

It would appear that the spirit of Lee Atwater is alive and well, and we are all the poorer for it.

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This page contains a single entry by Jack Cluth published on February 21, 2004 5:41 AM.

And then they'll require all riders to douse themselves with rum.... was the previous entry in this blog.

What, really, is the problem here? The feeder of those who are different? The fear that someone might define "family" differently? Or just fear in general? is the next entry in this blog.

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