LA Times to KSFO's Morgan: "WE don't mess with OUR photos"

Remember when Howard Kaloogian was busted for putting up photos of Istanbul and claiming that they came from a calm Baghdad? Well on the same week that happened his co-founder of "Move America Forward" Melanie Morgan claimed that the LA-Times was doctoring their photos of the immigration protests in LA. "The LA Times actually doctored photographs to make it look as if they were ALL American flags and there were NO Mexican flags."

So I wrote the LA-Times and asked them to check into this serious accusation. Below is their letter to KSFO's boss at ABC Radio. It will be interesting to see if there is a response and what Morgan's response will be. If Morgan holds true to wingnut form she will attack:

1) Me

2) the LA Times

3) Bloggers in general

Then I'm guessing she will claim the whole thing is:

1) Silly

2) Not worthy of her to respond to

3) NOT what she meant to say.
Even though she was quite serious about her claim and, AS A FORMER, ABC RESEARCHER, REPORTER AND ANCHOR she knows perfectly well what it means to doctor a photo. She probably also knows that doctoring a photo (as my post pointed out) is a firing offense at most newspapers.

If she DOES apologize, it will probably be one of those backhanded apologies, like "I'm sorry the LA Times was offended" or give an apology combined with an attack on bloggers and a cry about how nasty we all are to her (and Howard Kaloogian).

I really doubt anything will happen. It has nothing to do with the fact that Morgan is married to KSFO's station general manager. They court and condone bad behaviour, hate speech, inciting violence on the air and making indecent comments during drive time.

KSFO hasn't reprimanded or fired Brian Sussman for calling for the preemptive killing of 10 million Muslims, demanding that a caller "Say Allah is a Whore" or talking about how he would torture Iraqis by cutting off their fingers and then their penis.

If there is anything it might be a fake sincere "correction" using the politician's favorite way to get out of a lie "I misspoke" (why is that okay, by the way?) No, they will probably do like that guy from KFI who mocked 350 Muslims that died during the hajj. He went on Hannity and attacked CAIR, the group that called him on his offensive speech. In one of the most obnoxious acts of juvenile debate I've ever heard, Hannity attacked the person who came on to say, "Hey KFI DJ, that was in bad taste". That is what I expect from Morgan and KSFO, but maybe I'll be surprised.

Here is the letter from the director of media relations at the LA Times. I'd like to thank him for calling Morgan on her accusation.

Sheri Yee
ABC

Ms Yee:

The blog "Spocko's Brain" brought to our attention an accusation leveled against The Times on March 28 by Melanie Morgan of KSFO-AM's "The Lee Rodgers & Melanie Morgan Program." An audio clip of that broadcast was posted on March 28 at http://www.spockosbrain.com/. We trust that clip is an accurate recording of the relevant segment.

Ms. Morgan's accusation is absolutely false. Additionally, our Ethics Guidelines explicitly prohibit that type of manipulation:

Photographs and graphics must inform, not mislead. Any attempt to confuse readers or misrepresent visual information is prohibited.

In photographing news, we do not stage or reenact events. Photographers may direct subjects of portraits, fashion shoots or studio work. In presenting such images, we must avoid creating the impression that they were captured spontaneously.

We do not add color, create photomontages, remove objects or flop images. We do not digitally alter images beyond making minor adjustments for color correction, exposure correction and removal of dust spots or scratches required to ensure faithful reproduction of the original image. Exaggerated use of burning, dodging or color saturation is not permitted.

We are asking for an on-air correction and would appreciate a response.

Regards,

David

Director, Media Relations
Los Angeles Times
202 W. 1st St.
Los Angeles, CA 90012

www.latimes.com/mediacenter

^Now THIS is a doctored photo. The image was flipped and text boxes added. It is not a news photo, just so you know...