Max Read over at Gawker noticed a very interesting issue with a recently released PB photo. The image shows three men, diligently watching a ten-screen monitor bank with varying footage of the spill. BP labeled this photo on their website “Houston Command Center”. Sounds very official!
The problem is, the image was photoshopped to add three images to blank screens. The image meta data indicates the photo was taken in March of 2001 as well. As Gawker puts it, their photographer either doesn’t know how to work their camera, or BP is downright lying.
In addition to lying to the American public for the, ummm, bazillionth time this summer, it seems the lie was completely unnecessary. Despite what some conference room shmuck might have thought, nobody would have reacted negatively to seen a couple blank screens. We’re talking about a pipe sticking out of the ground, 5,000 feet below the ocean surface folks, there’s only so much to look at. To have 10 screens with 10 different images would have simply been overkill and obviously dramatization.
BP is blaming the incident on their photographer. Yea, because their photographer wanted to spend a couple hours after his/her shift touching up a photo of a dark room. As Gawker points out, the photographer probably caused the spill too!
The Huffington Post article points out a concerning and valid theme of deception: “…It matters because of the pattern. A seemingly superfluous image on a website, the dispatching of a team of fake reporters, the deliberate — potentially dangerous — obfuscation of oil spill flow… these actions all spring from the same desire, the desire to deceive.”
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