Atlantic Year in Photos Distorts Syrian Casualties
The Atlantic’s 2011: Year in Photos includes the following photo and caption:
Palestinian protesters infiltrate the Israel-Syria border on May 15, 2011, near the Druze village of Majdal Shams, Israel. Reportedly at least 12 were killed and several injured when IDF soldiers open fired on protesters attempting to cross the Syria-Israel border adjacent to Majdal Shams in Northern Israel. (Jalaa Marey/JINI/Getty Images)
Four infiltrators, not 12, were killed after crossing the fence dividing Syrian and Israel. See, for example, the New York Times and Al Jazeera.
Unfortunately, in 2011, there’s no need to falsely inflate fatalities among Syrian protesters. In total, more than 4,000 were reportedly killed. Not by Israel, but by Assad’s own forces. While the Atlantic chose to include a photo representing the killing of four Syrian protesters at the hands of Israeli forces, it does not include a single image representing the many thousands of Syrian civilians killed by their own repressive regime.
Update/Clarification 12/12/11: The Atlantic has commendably corrected the inflated figure in a timely and thorough manner. Also, as noted by the Atlantic in a comment posted below, the error originated with Getty, not with the Atlantic as stated in this original blog post. Stay tuned for information about a correction from Getty.
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