Between 2014-16, the Guardian published a number of photographs by freelance contributor Souvid Datta. In May 2017, Datta admitted – as part of a wider public disclosure – that he had manipulated certain of these images using techniques such as masking or cloning elements from other images he had taken. This breached ethical standards for news photography and GNM’s own editorial guidelines. As a result, the Guardian immediately removed from its website 10 articles featuring his work from Afghanistan, China, Guatemala, India and Iraq.
In June 2021, another picture gallery and Eyewitness page were removed after Datta told us they contained manipulated images that were missed in the 2017 deletions. A further two articles referenced a 2014 Guardian Witness award that Datta had received for “best still image” for a street scene in Kolkata; that image, which Datta confirmed had been similarly altered, has been deleted from the relevant articles and his name removed from among the recipients of that year’s awards. Another image was removed as it came from a 2016 set in which issues were previously identified.
Pictures produced by Datta on assignment with Guardian journalists and which raise no apparent standards issues will remain available on the website.
