Here’s a famous example of a well established news magazine, Time, using photo editing on its June 27, 1994 cover. As you can see, the magazine manipulated O.J. Simpson’s mug shot by darkening it to appear more ominous. His face appears “darker, blurrier, and unshaven.” Even the black glow around the cover makes it look haunted. In contrast, Newsweek used the same photo for its cover that week, but left it unaltered (or unaltered enough to not look noticeably distracting.) It appears as if Time Magazine’s goal was to make its cover sensational to sell copies, but Matt Mahurin, the illustrator at Time who manipulated the photo, “wanted to make it more artful, more compelling.” Either way, ethical issues were questioned when this magazine cover came out. Unfortunately, this manipulation ended up distorting the truth.
Murano, Gracie. “10 Most Famous Doctored Photos.” Oddee. Oddee, 01 Sept. 2009. Web. 28 Mar. 2012. <http://www.oddee.com/item_96803.aspx>.