The photo at the center of the storm supposedly shows President Paul Biya bowing before caskets of Cameroonian soldiers killed in the fighting against the terrorist organization Boko Haram. The problem is that the president didn't attend the ceremonies honoring the soldiers, for which he received ample criticism in the country. Then this doctored photo showed up on the president's website.
Now the storm really rose. The image editing job was so horrible that all but the most casual viewer can see that it is a montage. The president, of course, was loudly booed for such an effort at fooling the public. So the picture came down a few hours after being posted and a replacement photo showed the caskets but not the president.
When the noise from this got louder and louder, the government issued this statement:
After thorough verification, the false news attributed to the official website of the Presidency of the Republic is the result of a grotesque photomontage by a hacker who broke into the site, and who was undoubtedly motivated by a desire to undermine and dishonor the Head of State, our defense and security forces, and the entire nation.
This despicable maneuver comes at a time when the Cameroonian people are in a sacred union with the Head of the State, Commander-in-Chief of our defense and security forces. No doubt, the person set out to create a distraction in an attempt to undermine the morale of troops at the frontline and break the nation’s extraordinary spirit of solidarity.
There is more to the story including arrests of supposed hackers who perpetrated this crime. However, apparently now there are quite a few images being circulated around that were posted on the president's site that were edited.
I'll not pass judgment from afar, but clearly those watching consider this a most ham-handed attempt at government propaganda and dissimulation. I guess one obvious question is: Could someone so inept at Photoshop be at the same time competent enough to hack the website of the president of the nation?
So what does this have to do with you?
What would you do if someone posted a much better edited image showing your senior leader in questionable or compromising circumstances? Perhaps more importantly, is the credibility of your leadership and organization such that if something like that happened, would your protestations of hacking be taken seriously? What if, as the article suggests, a creative and well intentioned (but obviously naive) staff member posted the picture? Can you be sure such a creative, well intentioned but naive staff member won't do the same to you?
