Chinese editor resigns over faked Tibet photo

BEIJING (Reuters) - The chief editor of a Chinese newspaper quit after it emerged that one of its photographers had faked a prize-winning photograph of endangered Tibetan antelopes appearing unfazed by a much-criticised new railway.

The photograph by Liu Weiqiang, 41, showed more than 20 antelopes wandering unperturbed beneath an overpass of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway, which opened in July 2006, the official Xinhua news agency said on Monday.

The train to Tibet drew international criticism for penetrating environmentally sensitive areas and for further opening up culturally distinct Tibet to increased migration by Han Chinese.

The photo, purportedly shot a week before the railway's official opening, had been named one of the "10 most impressive news photos of 2006" by state broadcaster China Central Television, Xinhua said.

Liu admitted to having spliced two shots together to create the image after a posting on photography Web site xitek.com late last week noted a fault line in the photo -- and that the shy creatures appeared too calm given a train was speeding overhead.

He resigned from the Daqing Evening News in northeastern Heilongjiang province, Xinhua said. On Sunday, the paper issued an apology for failing to supervise Liu properly and editor Wang Zhongyi resigned.

In October, a farmer in the northern Shaanxi province produced photographs of a tiger he said were taken in the forest near his village. A local forestry authority said they proved the South China tiger still existed in the wild.

Internet users accused the farmer of using digital software to make the tiger and said local authorities had approved the photographs to bolster tourism. Officials later apologised for publishing the images without going through the proper procedures, but said nothing about their authenticity.