> ... has raised questions ...
Rubbish. This has been festering since Photoshop was first
released.
The National Geographic, for example, has very strict
standards for what/how photogs must submit.
A publisher who was really concerned would require
that the photogs use only digital cameras that
digitally sign and encrypt each image, and tag it
with GPS-provided time-date-coordinates (in addition
to all the other EXIF data), and submit only
camera .RAW.
What the legacy media is really concerned about here
is that they have been caught, and that fictional
images are now no longer an easy way to boost their
agendas. They will not fix the underlying process flaw.
My sentiments exactly - I'd like to see the DOD mandate that embedded journalists use cameras that embed direction, location, GMT, etc. so that stock or file footage r frames cannot be used ad infinitum to illustrate say the present conditions in Iraq, when they are in fact dramatic photos taken long ago, or in an entirely different location. There has to be a way to integrated GPS, a verifiable time register, perhaps even information as to focal length and aperture into a raw file, encrypt and then pass though a DOD server.
I know digital is easier, but negatives...
It's a long way from the raw photo in the camera's memory or CF card and the published print. Wire services don't want to be in the business of spending time preparing a photo for publication. AP receives several thousand photos a day, it would be a very daunting task to be responsible for cropping, sizing and color correcting that many photos. A lot of the photos they put up on the wire aren't even seen by anyone at AP other than a cursory glance to make sure they are in the right orientation and not upside down. They won't even catch one that's reversed. They put 'em out there and wait to hear from members if they find anything wrong. It's not uncommon for the page designer at a major newspaper to wait until the last possible minute to get art for a front page article from AP and simply download the image and drop it into the hole on the page. They seldom pay any attention at all to the details of a photo. If it looks good on the wire they run with it.
The weak link in the chain is the shooter, it all starts there, and that link is getting weaker and weaker.