Digital Manipulation Ethics of Photography
While covering the war in Iraq, photojournalist Brian Walski made a composite of two photographs that then ran on the cover of the LA Times. When questioned about it by his editor, after a reader picked up on some discrepancies in the picture, Walski immediately owned up to it.
When they called me that night, Colin [Crawford, the Times director of photo] said, "Give me an excuse. Tell me it was a satellite transmission problem. Say something." I said, "No, I did it. I combined the two pictures."
Of course it is not acceptable for photojournalist to doctor photos and then pass them off as straight shots. I think, though, that Walski's candor in coming clean and making no excuses says something about his integrity. I imagine that long days in the middle of a war zone can disrupt your judgment, to say the least. Give the guy a break.