China's attempts to persuade people (well, worried westerners) that its $4bn Qinghai-Xizang railway, which goes to Tibet, y'know, might have minimal environmental impact (as well as some impact on people who live in Tibet) found its apotheosis in a picture of antelope running beneath the train track carrying the 60mph (100km/h) train. The picture won an award in 2006 from Xinhua, and the antelope - whose numbers have (it's claimed; can't be sure of anything, as you'll learn) risen in recent years is one of the mascots of the Olympics. They're in China this year - you hadn't heard? (Also, what do mascots do at the Olympics? Hold the towels?)
Except the picture was faked. Photoshopped. Two different events spliced together. Oh dear. As the Wall Street Journal explains (in slightly mind-crushing detail),
Xinhua, China's largest news organization, and several other government news organizations published an apology for circulating the photo. The companies said they would delete all of Mr. Liu's images from their databases.
"We call on the public to work together with us to uphold the authenticity principle of news reporting," the statement said. Xinhua didn't respond to requests for comment.
No, I bet it didn't. The blame is being laid on the photographer, but the reality surely is that it was diplomatically necessary for the antelopes to be happy with the train, and for people beyond China to be happy about that. And Y thus follows X.
The only encouraging thing about the whole affair is that it was a Chinese blogger who first raised suspicions. Chapeau to you, sir (or madam). Let's hear it for the internet, if not the glorious revolutionary approach to conservation..
