State-run Al-Ahram newspaper on Tuesday published a doctored photo of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak leading US president Barack Obama, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and Jordanian monarch Abdullah II as they walked together while meeting in Washington for the launch of renewed peace talks earlier this month.
The original photo, which was published by Reuters on 3 September, shows President Mubarak walking at the rear of his counterparts and peace-talk co-sponsors.
Al-Ahram published the manipulated image on the first day of the second round of talks held in Egypt’s Sharm al-Sheikh.
Samy Abdel Aziz, dean of the faculty of mass communication at Cairo University, said the president's perceived importance should not be affected by his position in a photo. “Formal aspects do not add to realities,” he said.
Translated from the Arabic Edition.
