Subscribe by EmailBritish tabloid Photoshops black guy out but leaves his knee behind
July 24, 2008 by Mark O'Neill | 14 commentsBy Mark O’Neill
Contributing Writer, [GAS]
By any standard, the “Sun” newspaper in Britain is a bit of a rag. This is the newspaper that thinks that a topless woman on page 3 is culture. This is the newspaper that thinks that it’s OK to call the Germans a “bunch of racist Nazis” even though the war has been over for 63 years. This is the newspaper that thinks that serious journalism amounts to who’s sleeping with who. If you asked a Sun reporter who Obama was, he’d think it was a trendy new drug and he’d get his needle out.
So I can’t say I’m surprised by their latest screw-up. One of their other faults is that the Sun is prejudiced towards minorities and when this great picture of “daring-do” Prince William became available, the Rag must have decided that the black guy at the back was in the way so they decided in their infinite wisdom to Photoshop him out. But being the knuckleheads that they are, they left his knee in!
The Metro newspaper in Britain has the original photo for comparison purposes and below is the Sun photo which is in the newspaper today. The online version of the Sun story however has the proper photo.
I think the Photoshop guy at the Sun is probably looking for a new job today.
Via Gawker
- British Government wants phone and email database
- A passport will be needed to buy a British mobile phone
- This Guy is Crazy: Giant Water Slide Jump
- What does the British Government know?
The other black guy’s still there though, so they were just most probably wanting to clean the image up a bit. That guy wasn’t dressed as the others. Still lame though.
“clean the image up a bit”? So the black guy was making the picture messy?
The original picture was looking a bit unbalanced.. but still, this is just stupid of the sun.
Yes I don’t think this has anything to do with racism; if it had been a white guy sitting there, they probably would have photoshopped him out too, for “aesthetic” reasons (because of the text on top of the picture).
It’s still a very stupid screw-up indeed. Haha.
Your link to the Sun leads to a front page story about Obama’s policies.
yeah I kind of chose the wrong day to make an Obama joke at the expense of the Sun!
They removed one of 9 men from this photo, but by referring to him as only a “black guy” maybe you are being racist? They simply failed to remove the knee.
Oh come on! Please tell me you’re pulling my leg! How would you like me to refer me to him? “One Of Nine”? He’s a guy and he’s black. How’s that being racist?
I think it is racist to mention the guy was photoshop’d out and he was BLACK! You even said it was racist of them to remove the black guy without ever noting that there is a black in the very front of the image. A racist is someone who focuses on race, and that is exactly what you did. And I must also add the obligatory statement that it is journalistic fraud to edit an image and present it as part of a news story, much like AP did a couple of years ago concerning the Israeli/Lebanon conflict.
I think I am in the Twilight Zone here.
I am a trained journalist, worked in newspapers and you’re lecturing me on “journalistic fraud”!
I am merely stating facts – that he is a black person and that he was Photoshopped out. That the Sun newspaper has a history of prejudices towards minorities and that this was probably the reason why they removed him from the photo.
Does this make me a racist? I think not! You won’t find me donning a white hood and burning crosses on peoples lawns. All I am doing is presenting the facts of the story.
I think you’re nitpicking here. You don’t happen to be a reporter for the Sun by any chance?
Just for the record, I am not accusing YOU of fraud, I am accusing The SUN of fraud. But I am accusing you of racism. And while it is true that it is a fact the guy that was edited out was black, you failed to mention that the others left in the photo were also black, as well as white. You only mentioned race for the one that was removed, not the ones left in, which would also be stating a fact. And your reaction to the racism accusation reinforces my assertion. The person removed from the photo may be black, but is immaterial to the story. But you focused on his race anyway which, in my opinion, does make you a racist.
OK well I’m not going to get into a pointless flame war with you. You have your opinion, I have mine. Let’s leave it at that.
Get the sand out of your vagina and laugh at Marks funny blog post already. The sun sucks, Marks funny. The end.
I see no racism here. The Sun does have a history of this type of thing and I see nothing wrong with Mark pointing it out.
Steve, you are just looking for a fight. Stop. Laugh, enjoy yourself. Dick.
That’s Richard to you, Pal!
It was kind of amusing. I just felt the need to speak out over the false charge of racism. You can only “cry wolf” so many times before the cries are ignored, and this applies to racism as well.
The Sun may be racist, but not here.
And for the record, I wish I did have a vagina with sand in it. One can only hope.