A Photoshopped Truth by The Economist

The New York Times’ revealed the truth about the cover of the June 19 issue of The Economist:

You see President Obama standing alone, off-shore oil rigs sitting in the background. His head down, looking forlornly at the ground.  It was a well-chosen image to portray a politically troubled president; he looks like he’s carrying the immense weight of not just the oil spill disaster.

The problem was, he was not actually alone.

The Economist deliberately airbrushed Charlotte Randolph, a local Louisiana official, and Adm. Thad W. Allen of the Coast Guard out of the photograph to create the right tone to carry their editorial. What? Apparently, Reuters’ stringent standards regarding photo editing didn’t seem to bother them.

As a product of journalism school, I am a believer of some sort of journalism code of ethics: To seek truth and providing a fair and comprehensive account of events and issues.  However, Walter Shapiro, a PoliticsDaily.com columnist, says “It is time to regain a sense of perspective. We all live in a Photoshopped century.”

Shapiro also pointed out that long before Photoshop, Joseph Stalin (yes, that mustachioed guy from Russia) routinely airbrushed his purged rivals out of photographs of the early days of Russian Revolution. The Economist’s digital manipulation may be far from Stalin’s intention to change (or in this case, custom-made) his history but like The New York Times, we reserved some sort of higher standard for The Economist.

I’m glad for The New York Times’ revelation & Walter Shapiro’s point of view. The next photo editor who thinks he’s found a perfect picture (minus a few pesky details, like another person) would think twice before doing so.