Full translation by a friend of mine, prof. of German Ted Rippey, Bowling Green St.
Jayson
Here's my translation (followed by the orig. rough trans).  The
discrepancies are worth noting.

--TR

SPIEGEL ONLINE 21 Sept 2001

[Intro-head] The power of TV images
[Main head] What is the truth?

by Lisa Erdmann

[Intro text] Just a few hours after the attacks on Washington and New York,
TV news sources broadcast images of Palestinians celebrating the
unconscionable acts.  There are now reports that these images, which
circulated around the world, were in part staged and in part old.

[Dateline] Hamburg--  Children celebrate, a woman wearing glasses and a
black headscarf raises her arms joyfully, a man claps and beckons passersby
to join in.  This was a street scene filmed in Jerusalem on 11 September,
on the day of te attacks in Washington and New York.  These images went
around the world.  These images shocked and stunned many people.  The
hunger for information and visual material was insatiable on that day, so
the networks broadcast these images over and again, together with text,
reporting that these Palestinians were celebrating the attacks against the
United States.  Now, tens days after the attacks, the ARD [=primary German
public televsion network] political magazine "Panorama" reports that there
may be a different truth behind these images.  In fact, they may have been
staged.

The jubilant Palestinians were filmed by two news agencies: Reuters and the
Associated Press (AP).  Television audiences saw only a few seconds of the
filmed material.  However, a total of about 4 minutes of material was
delivered to TV stations.  Panorama editor Annette Krueger-Spitte took a
closer look at the complete footage.  "It is, after all, hot material," she
said.  Her examination revealed inconsistencies.

Last week's edited news footage gave the impression that many people were
celebrating in the street.  There were no long-range shots that showed the
entire street; only small groups of people filled the frame.  The original
footage, however, contained ample long-range shots.  These showed clearly
that only a handful of people celebrated while many more passed by
uninterested.  "The woman in the black headscarf said later that she
celebrated for the camera because someone had promised her cake," said
Krueger-Spitte.  The Palestinian woman reportedly said she was outraged
when she saw how the images of her were used, and that she despises the
attacks on New York and Washington.  What is the truth?

Spurred on by the allegation that CNN had used 10-year-old images in the
segment, an angry flurry of email encircled the globe last week.  Marcio, a
Brazilian student, posted a message on Wednesday to the independt media Web
site Indymedia.  He wrote of proof that the images were essentially fake.
He claimed the footage could be dated to 1991, when some Palestinian youths
were filmed as they celebrated the Iraqi march into Kuwait.  One of his
college instructors, Marcio reported, had recorded TV footage from that
time that matched the footage used after the September 11 attacks.
Conclusion: CNN was propelling public sentiment against the Palestinians.

Only two days later, on Friday, Marcio retreated from his initial position.
He had strong suspicions, he indicated, but his instructor's case could not
be conclusively proved.  At that point it was already too late.  Email
traffic regarding the "fake" images continues to proliferate, and editors
everywhere (including here at SPIEGEL) are receiving concerned letters from
readers.  CNN International has hotly disputed the allegations in a
communique to SPIEGEL online.  Reuters, one of the agencies responsible for
the footage, also moved quickly to reject the allgations' validity.  Even
on the Indymedia site itself, doubts surfaced. One contributor suggested
the images couldn't be from 1991 because a 1995 model year Ford was visible
in the frame.



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