Discussing President Obama's recent medical check-up, which reportedly noted that Obama “has not kicked the smoking habit,” Fox Nation posted a doctored photo of Obama with a cigarette dangling from his mouth. As the Museum of Hoaxes notes, the photo is a “fake” spread during the 2008 campaign. From The Fox Nation:
From the Museum of Hoaxes:
In early 2008 the top photo began circulating online, showing Obama with a cigarette in his mouth. It is not real. The original photo (bottom) was taken by Kwame Ross on Aug. 3, 2004 while then-State Sen. Obama met with constituents at the University of Illinois while campaigning to become a U.S. Senator.
An unknown hoaxer digitally added the cigarette into the photo.
Last August, the Arizona GOP featured the doctored photo with a press release slamming Obama's “Broken promises, rampant government spending, and Chicago-style politics.” The original version of the photo can be found here.
Last summer, Fox Nation -- a purported “fair and balanced” news website -- posted a fake picture of then-Senator-elect Al Franken in diapers holding a stuffed animal. The photo was doctored and has been disseminated by detractors of Franken, including the Ohio Republican Party.
Fox News' penchant for doctored photos isn't limited to its online properties -- in 2008, Fox & Friends featured digitally altered photographs of New York Times reporters with whom they disagreed. In the photos, the reporters' teeth had been yellowed, their facial features exaggerated, and portions of one reporter's hair was moved further back on his head. Media Matters has also noted that Fox News has a history of doctoring videos to smear progressives and Democrats.