Old, unrelated photo used by Bangla media to report on Houthi attack on Saudi Arabia
Multiple Bangladeshi news outlets used a photo in reports and photo cards about the September 14 attack by Houthi rebels on Saudi Arabia’s King Khalid Air Base. Dismislab’s fact-check found that the photo is not from this attack, but rather from a fire that broke out in Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, after an airstrike by the Saudi-led coalition in September 2015.
On September 14, a photo card was published on Daily Manabzamin’s verified Facebook page, headlined “Houthis’ Devastating Missile and Drone Attack on Saudi’s King Khalid Air Base.” As of the publication of this report, the post had received more than 3,000 reactions and 95 comments. The photo card had been shared 40 times.
ATN News also published a photo card with the same image and headline on its Facebook page. Daily Ittefaq published an online report using the same photo. The report stated that Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree issued a statement on Monday claiming missile and drone strikes on this air base in Khamis Mushait. In addition, Sangbad, Bangladesh Pratidin, Daily Bangla, and Dhaka Mail also published reports using this photo.
To verify the photo, Dismislab conducted a reverse image search, which led to a Yahoo News report. Published on September 11, 2015, and credited to Reuters, that report discussed talks on resuming UN-mediated peace negotiations in Yemen. The caption of the photo used in the report read that smoke and fire could be seen at a military base in Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, following an airstrike by the Saudi-led coalition. The photo’s caption listed the date as September 10, 2015, and mentioned Reuters and named Khaled Abdullah as the photographer.
The same photo was also found in an Al Jazeera report published September 10, 2015, which covered the intensification of Arab coalition airstrikes on Houthi-controlled Sanaa. There, the photo’s caption stated that Saudi Arabia and other Arab states had intervened in Yemen’s civil war on March 26. Here too, the photo was credited to Khaled Abdullah and Reuters.
The tower visible on the right side of the photo, the building with windows and a dome in the front row, and the position of the fire and smoke all match exactly with the photo used by the Bangladeshi outlets.
According to the Reuters and Al Jazeera reports, on March 26, 2015, the Saudi-led coalition intervened in Yemen’s civil war and began airstrikes on Houthi-controlled areas. As part of this campaign, an airstrike on Sanaa that September set a military installation on fire, a scene photographed by Reuters photographer Khaled Abdullah. In other words, the damage visible in the photo was caused by an attack carried out by the Saudi coalition, not the Houthis.
In other words, the photo attached to the recent claim of a Houthi attack on Saudi Arabia’s King Khalid Air Base is in fact from a different incident more than 11 years earlier. In that incident, it was the Saudi-led coalition that attacked Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen, with Houthi-controlled territory as the target — the exact reverse of the current incident.
It is worth noting that multiple international outlets, including Turkey’s state-run TRT World and the Jerusalem Post, have published reports on the recent claim of a Houthi attack on King Khalid Air Base. The reports state that Houthi forces claimed to have struck the base’s hangars, radar, runway, and weapons depots with about a dozen ballistic missiles and drones, and reported significant damage.
What do journalism guidelines say about using old photos?
The BBC’s editorial guidelines, regarded as an international standard for broadcast journalism, contain specific instructions on the use of archival photos or videos. The “Archive Material” section of the guidelines’ Accuracy chapter states that archival material must not be used in a way that misleads viewers or readers about an event or situation, and must be clearly labeled where necessary.
The guidelines further state that before using archival material unaltered, it must be considered whether doing so would violate editorial guidelines or the law, and that its archival origin must be clearly disclosed where necessary. The guidelines also note that if information or a photo becomes outdated or inaccurate over time, this must be made clear to viewers and readers. In addition, the BBC instructs that any news or content that gives the impression of being up to date must clearly state when it was first published and when it was last updated, so that readers are not misled about the timing of publication.
In other words, under these guidelines, if an old photo must be used in a report on a new event, it cannot be presented as a live or genuine scene of that event. It must be clearly labeled as a “file photo” or archival image, and where possible, mention exactly when and where it was taken should also be disclosed. In none of the reports or photo cards published by outlets that used the photo, including Manabzamin, ATN News, and Ittefaq, was it identified as a file or archival photo. Instead, it was presented as an up-to-date and genuine scene of the recent attack on King Khalid Air Base.
It is worth mentioning that Dismislab has previously published reports on old photos used by news outlets in coverage of Saudi Arabia-Houthi attacks.
