Ethics Topic: Photo Manipulation

Photoshop and other editing programs make changing pictures very easy. We're so accustomed to seeing images that have been manipulated for artistic purposes that they no longer even surprise us. That doesn't mean, however, that when pictures appear to be realistic, we will suspect them of being manipulated. But what if they have been?

There was a case of a journalist who photoshopped pictures from Iraq that caused quite a stir. His photo combining created an image that made it appear as though a British soldier was pointing a gun at an Iraqi child. This made for a more dramatic image but not necessarily truth in reporting.

When is it wrong to photoshop? If a picture is supposed to worth a thousand words, at what point do we change those words beyond recognition by manipulating the image?