It’s the only way to be sure.

Long time readers will know of my extreme scepticism when it comes to the press, be it photography related or general news. Now Reuters has ‘fessed up that one of its photographers in Lebanon was doctoring pictures to make palls of smoke over Beirut larger. As the examples below show it is Photoshop stamp-and-clone work of the crudest possible kind.

Subsequent investigation by Reuters disclosed that this photographer had done this before, Photoshopping Israeli jets firing flares to look as if they were firing multiple rockets.

Photoshop has its uses in the artistic photography world – I do not hesitate to use it to clean things up – but has no place in objective news reporting. Ansel Adams would never pass for a press photographer, most of his images having been heavily doctored in the darkroom. Nothing wrong with that. Doctoring has its place, just not in news photography.

When I was a boy one tended to trust two or three news sources – the BBC, Time and CBS. No more. The BBC has acquired the default left wing bias of most news services, Time famously demonized the police mug shot of O. J. Simpson on its cover before the case even came to trial (another Photoshop session, albeit more skilful than the Reuters one) and CBS, well, everyone knows about Dan Rather.

So when you next see a picture or a purportedly ‘independent’ review of a piece of photo gear, play it safe. Assume everything you read is doctored and take it from there. That way your chances of being misled are lower. And when it comes to Wall Street, redouble your scepticism.

Reuters fired the photographer, by the way. Had he worked for the New York Times he would even now be proclaiming his First Amendment rights.