[Publius6961]

I am totally puzzled by this tempest in a teapot.
I will grant you, the alteration of some photos can have profound repercussions, but C'on...

Making the smoke thicker in this photograph is earthshaking?

I can't see the importance of it all.

[GoLightly]

If this was a photo put out as "art", that would be one thing. Fudging a pic to increase dramatic affect in a *news* piece (more severe damage implied) is propaganda, not news. How many areas were hit by Israeli bombs in the edited pic? How many were really hit? Without darkening the smoke, the ground edits would be a lot more obvious. Dark smoke on the ground without the dark smoke in the sky, again ground edits would be more obvious.

[ctdonath2]

I can't see the importance of it all.

If we let this one slip by as "oh, that's not so bad" then the temptation will be greater to slip one in of greater importance. Better to make it abundantly clear that (1) fakes will be detected & publicized rapidly, and (2) anyone faking news photos should & will be publicly flogged & fired.

It's like punishing someone for "reckless endangerment" - nobody got hurt, but we're still gonna punish 'em for taking the risk.