Is the TMZ-published photo of an ill Steve Jobs this past week real?
TMZ first posted the photo Aug. 26 here and claimed the photo, credited to “Bruja/PacificCoastNews.Com” had been “taken today.”
The image is described as “quite shocking,” by Straight.com and other sites. Jobs, who stepped down from his position as head of Apple last week, looks frail and “even more gaunt than usual.”
But, Mediaite noted that the image’s legitimacy is being argued given “just how secretive Jobs always kept the specifics of his illness and its effects.”
The Daily Beast disclosed Aug. 27 that it had published a link to the photo on TMZ’s website but later took it down “after learning that it was dubious.”
Reddit users marked up this version of the photo to indicate possible photoshopping and to question the credibility of TMZ. The Daily Beast explained that Reddit users highlighted “signs that the image was pinched to make Jobs look more frail; that parts of the image have been cropped; and that some of the shapes in the image are unnatural.
But, Mediaite noted that some aren’t buying the Reddit “proof.”
Gawker, which reported and re-published the photo, and then on the claims it had been photoshopped, featured a comment from Pacific Coast News representative defending the photo’s authenticity.
“These have not been doctored in anyway [sic], I can assure you, regardless what you may have read online,” the representative is quoted as saying.
Gawker noted that the representative’s “email includes a pdf of the contact sheet from which these photos were taken.”
Regardless of the photo’s legitimacy, questions still remain on whether the photo invaded Jobs’ privacy. BetaNews’ Joe Wilcox claimed that since Jobs resigned, he should have more privacy. Wilcox reminded that he thought Jobs’ “health was not a private matter” when he was CEO.