2006 Lebanon War photographs controversies

The 2006 Lebanon War photographs controversies (also referred to as 'Hizbollywood' or 'Hezbollywood') refers to instances of photojournalism from the 2006 Lebanon War that misrepresented scenes of death and destruction in Lebanon caused by Israeli air attacks. As a result of the scandal, Reuters fired freelance photographer Adnan Hajj, and the AP disciplined several others. Reuters also fired a photo editor, and implemented stricter controls on its photo-gathering process.

The controversy began as an investigation of documents by individual , and spread to print and television media sources.

CAMERA, a pro-Israel media watch organization, said that the alleged photographic manipulations were used by the mainstream media in an attempt to sway public opinion and paint Israel as an aggressor, and suggesting that Israel was guilty of targeting civilians.

Adnan Hajj, a freelance photographer, was fired by Reuters after he admitted to using Photoshop to add and darken smoke spirals in a photograph of Beirut, in order to make the damage appear worse. Reuters stated that Hajj had edited a second photo, and critics raised further questions about Hajj's work. Reuters announced that they had withdrawn "all of Hajj's photos, about 920 images, from its archives".

A photo of a burning Qur'an amid a pile of rubble, also taken by Hajj, seemed suspicious to Los Angeles Times media critic Tim Rutten, since the building it was in had been destroyed in an Israeli airstrike hours beforehand, and everything else in the photo was already ash. A number of photographs were taken from Lebanon showing various children's toys in the foreground, each surrounded by a pile of rubble. Rutten also wrote about this set, saying that "Reuters might want to check its freelancers' expenses for unexplained Toys R Us purchases."

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Wikipedia