Liu Weiqiang’s award-wining
picture. [File photo]
Netizens pose questions
about the highlighted parts, which they point out are quite
unnatural.
Five Chinese media outlets have terminated contracts with a
photographer who faked a Tibetan antelope picture for a photo
contest, amidst national criticism.
China Photomall, a photographic website founded by Xinhua News
Agency, CNSPHOTO, the China News Service affiliate, and three other
photographic media have co-issued a statement terminating their
contracts with Liu Weiqing, a Daqing Evening News
photographer.
The five blacklisted Liu and said in the statement that his
behavior has "severely breached the ethical codes of journalists".
Therefore, they terminated their contracts with him and decided to
delete all of Liu's works from their database.
The 41-year-old photographer allegedly pieced together two
photos into one to show more than 20 Tibetan antelopes roaming
peacefully under a bridge of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway.
The photo, named "Qinghai-Tibet Railway opening green passageway
for wild animals", was among the "10 most impressive news photos of
2006", an annual event sponsored by state media China Central
Television (CCTV).
The photo was the subject of suspicion by Chinese netizens over
the calmness of the antelopes to the roaring train, and has since
drawn nationwide criticism.
Zoologists say Tibetan antelopes are easily disturbed by even
the slightest sound. Yet the herds on Liu's photo were trotting
calmly in an orderly queue.
Liu has confessed on Feb.16 in a interview with a Chengdu-base
newspaper that he faked the picture, and published a personal
statement on the Internet.
"I have no reason to continue my sacred career as a newsman. I
am not qualified for the job. I have sent in my resignation to the
newspaper.
"I am deeply sorry for bringing bad influences on the media
involved, for the reviewers of the CCTV contest, for Daqing
Evening News, the Daqing people and the Heilongjiang news
circle," he said.
Liu has already resigned from the Daqing Evening News,
based in the oil city Daqing of the northeastern Heilongjiang
Province, and published a personal statement to apologize.
His apology was followed on Sunday by the resigning of Wang
Zhongyi, Daqing Evening News chief editor, and a public apology by
the newspaper to the public for "failing to supervise Liu
properly", according to the paper, despite the fact that his
participation in the photo contest was his personal business.
Liu, born in the northern Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region,
majored in Chinese literature at university and was an avid
painter. He was a teacher for five years before he became a
cameraman at an oil refinery in Daqing in 1995. He joined
Daqing Evening News in 1997 and was also a senior member
of the Chinese photographers' association.
He won a gold prize in a Chinese photo contest in 2002 with a
picture featuring a sandstorm.
The antelope photo has inevitably reminded Chinese of the
suspected fake South China tiger photo, allegedly shot by a farmer
in Shaanxi Province in October, which caused a national
controversy.
Zhou Zhenglong, from the mountainous Zhenping County, presented
photos of the tiger he claimed were taken in the forest near his
village.
The local forestry authority said the photos were proof the rare
tiger still existed in the wild. But Internet users accused Zhou of
making the tiger images with digital software, and local
authorities of approving the photographs to bolster tourism.
In December, the State Forestry Administration demanded the
provincial forestry department have the photo authenticated by a
panel of experts. So far, no results have been published.
Two weeks ago, Shaanxi Forestry Department apologized for
publicizing the photos, but said nothing about their
authenticity.
(Xinhua News Agency February 19, 2008)
