By Joe Strupp
Published: May 13, 2004 Updated at 9:50 AM EST, May 14
NEW YORK A "miscommunication among staffers" and "a breakdown of checks and balances" led to The Boston Globe's publication Wednesday of a photo in which two people are holding a group of sexually graphic pictures, purportedly taken in Iraq (but actually not), that the paper has deemed inappropriate, the Globe's ombudsman said.
Christine Chinlund, who has held the ombudsman post for two years, made the photo the subject of a column on Friday, declaring that the paper should have done a better job of screening the photo before it ran.
In Friday's column Chinlund said flatly, "There's no excuse for what happened. ... The photo, headed for the publication pipeline, should have been flagged for discussion by top editors." But she added that criticism that use of the photo provided evidence of anti-Americanism or the paper's desire to "bring down Bush" were "off the mark."
Editor Martin Baron told Chinlund, "We are not firing anybody."
In an interview Thursday, Chinlund told E&P: "If the Globe had followed its procedures, which include a wide review of photos that are of a sensitive nature, this would not have happened. I will not attempt to defend the Globe because it was clearly an error that deserved an apology."
The photo, which ran on the second page of the paper's B section Wednesday, accompanied a story about Boston City Councilor Chuck Turner and activist Sadiki Kambon claiming to have pictures of U.S. soldiers raping Iraqi women. While the Globe quickly came under fire from some quarters, including the rival Boston Herald, for lending credibility to these pictures, the paper's original story did indicate that the photos could not be authenticated. Others have revealed that the photos actually came from a pornographic movie.
Although the paper did not run the actual photos of sexual acts, but only Turner and Kambon holding the explicit pictures, Chinlund said the photo should not have run at all.
"If you look at the photo that ran in the paper, there are things in there that are in fact inappropriate for a family newspaper," Chinlund declared. She said she was still reviewing the situation Thursday and had not determined which Globe supervisor might have been most at fault.
In an editor's note that ran Thursday, the Globe apologized for running the photo, saying it "did not meet Globe standards for publication" and "images contained in the photograph were overly graphic." The note gave less attention, however, to the fact that the paper could not verify if the photos involved U.S. soldiers in Iraq, stating only that "the purported abuse portrayed had not been authenticated."
Baron declined to comment Thursday on the situation, saying "the editor's note is all I have to say."
Just a note here. The Boston Globe in it's rush to do anything to help their candidate, Johnny "boy" Kerry, did not bother to do their journalistic duty and check the facts to be sure that the pictures they published were authentic. This is especially troubling when another news organization informed the Globe that the picutres they were going to publish were from a porn site. Just another example of the liberal bias of the Globe. - Sailor
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