The man accused of manipulating the media has hit out at an award for a manipulated picture.
The Prime Minister’s communications chief, Alastair Campbell, slammed last year’s decision by the What The Papers Say judges to choose a manipulated image in the Daily Mirror as picture of the year.
Campbell was applauded at Monday night’s Picture Editors’ Awards in London when he criticised the prize given to the Mirror for its front page poking fun at the Argentinian football team.
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He said: “I think the day a fake photograph of a wall of Argentinian footballers holding handbags won was a particularly depressing moment in the history of modern journalism.
“My old-fashioned view is that it is probably better if picture awards are won by real photographs taken by real photographers.”
Campbell offered his own prize for anyone who could take a picture of him smiling – and get it published. He claimed his scowling face was seen so often in the press that his mother had asked him: “Have you forgotten how to smile?”
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Jeff Mitchell of Reuters was named photographer of the year and the Daily Mirror and Sunday Herald shared the newspaper of the year title.
For details of all the winners, see the special supplement with this issue of Press Gazette.
By Jon Slattery
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