By: Mark Fitzgerald It was easily the most dramatic photo of the many to emerge from the Indian Ocean tsunami, and the Calgary (Alb.) Herald gave it the kind of front-page play it deserved. The image dominates the page in the same way the massive, cresting wall of water appears poised to overwhelm the people scurrying in the path beneath it.
But almost immediately questions arose. For one thing, it looked nothing like any other images of the tsunami replayed constantly by the global media. One man appears in the photograph appears to be laughing. "Something wrong here," read the heading when it was e-mailed to E&P.
The Herald credit line on Dec. 30 read, "Photo courtesy of Dr. Joseph Edison," referring to the executive director of the Calgary-headquartered World Food and Job Bank. But in the age of ubiquitous tourist cameras, the fact that it was not circulated by a news organization would not necessarily raise any red flags.
As it turned out, though, the image Edison provided did not come from the tsunami. Instead, it shows a huge wave that resulted from a tidal surge in the Qiantangjiang River in China. The photo dates back to September 2002.
In a front-page item headlined "Apology" that ran the next day, Dec. 31, the Herald acknowledged the photo was not of a tsunami wave. "The media were incorrectly told this photo, along with others provided by the Calgary-based World Job and Food Bank, was from the recent tsunami disaster in south Asia," the Herald story read in part.
"Several media outlets, including the Calgary Herald, Global news and CFCN TV used the photos," the story added.
Herald Photo Editor Peter Brosseau declined to comment to E&P about the photo, directing a reporter to the Web account. Edison could not be reached immediately.
One paragraph of the story is available on the Herald's
Web site.
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