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From: Lan Fleming <apollo18@swbell.net>
Date: Tue, 14 Mar 2000 21:14:54 -0600
Fwd Date: Wed, 15 Mar 2000 08:46:46 -0500
Subject: Is CNN Editing Reality?


On April 6, 1998, the day that the MGS Face image was released,
CNN science reporter John Holliman wrote an on-line article in
which he described the JPL "enhancement" now affectionately
referred to as "the Catbox" as follows:

"But the first raw image of the region of Mars called Cydonia
was a dark rectangle with a blotchy white patch that might or
might not be the 'Face' formation seen from the Viking mission
to Mars in the 1970s."

That was a fair description - probably the only one to appear
during the media stampede caused by JPL's release of the Catbox.
However, the released image was not raw as Holliman supposed at
the time. The released image had been heavily processed in a way
that removed most of the tonal variation present in the raw
image, almost completely flattening what is known to be a
400-meter high landform, giving it an appearance some have
described as being similar to a "footprint."

The last time I checked in January, this article was still in
the CNN archives at:

http://cnn.com/TECH/space/9804/06/mars.face.ap

But it isn't there anymore.

What is probably the only thing ever written by a CNN reporter
that referred to the quality of a JPL data product in negative
terms (and justifiably so) has been removed from their archive.

I thought at first that maybe CNN had just deleted it along with
other older articles to make room for newer ones in their
archive, but that doesn't seem to be the case.

Articles written before and after this one are still in the CNN
archive, including those on Cydonia written by Holliman that
dutifully reported on the JPL party line immediately proclaimed
by Dr. Albee and other JPL officials - after NASA promised to
withhold comment on the artificiality question.

That's one of the problems with the Internet as a news medium.
History can be changed without leaving a paper trail.

As to the reasons why this article has apparently been singled
out for deletion, I think  Holliman's comment speaks for itself.
Science reporters just aren't supposed to say bad things about
JPL unless it's absolutely unavoidable, like when they crash
hundred-million dollar space probes into Mars.

I e-mailed CNN to find out what happened to the article, but so
far I've received no reply. I'd like to see the article put back
on the CNN web site, but I'm not optimistic about that
happening.