It’s interesting to note how Dan Rather and CBS have reacted to suggestions that they based a major story on fake documents, with National Geographic’s reaction to claims by some of its readers that one of its photographs from a July 2004 issue appeared to be staged.
On pages 78-9 (photograph above), the picture caption reads that hunters are carrying “tusks taken from an elephant found dead in the bush.” Soon after the article was published, several readers pointed out that there are faint but unmistakable numbers on the tusk on page 78—which we failed to notice before publishing the story. We now know that the tusks belong to the Tanzania Department of Wildlife. When we asked photographer Gilles Nicolet to explain, he admitted that he himself had supplied the tusks to the hunters after borrowing them from local wildlife authorities.
This was in direct contrast to what Nicolet had repeatedly assured us when we were preparing the story. As part of our rigorous internal system of checks and balances, we routinely obtain independent verification of the circumstances in which a photograph is made. In very few instances, we are unable to do so. This story was one of those cases, and we published it knowing that we were relying heavily on Nicolet’s accounts.
In light of his disturbing admission about the tusks, we immediately launched an investigation into the other photographs in the story and determined that the two on page 85—which the caption identifies as showing a successful hunter removing his spear from an elephant and then removing the tusks—were actually made several years earlier and are not of the Barabaig. (See photographs below.)
Source:
From the Editor: A Special Message. National Geographic, July 15, 2004.