Playing around with the photos in W.Va. - dumb, dumb, dumb

Well, at least we know Photoshop has made it to West Virginia.

Seems a Morgantown newspaper didn't like that a bunch of legislators were standing behind the governor when he signed a bill to toughen penalties on hit-and-run drivers. It just wanted the members of a victim's family, who also were there.

So, poof, no more legislators.

The paper's explanation: It's election year and it doesn't want to run pictures of folks seeking re-election. And besides, it called the picture a "photo illustration."

Like that changes anything. It's a news photo, folks. Not an "illustration." As they say in golf, you play it as it lies, you don't improve your "lie."

So while we know Photoshop has made it across the Ohio River, photo ethics apparently are still a bit behind. But, hey, in these days of struggling newspaper revenues, maybe The Dominion Post (warning, the site is an Olive e-edition that requires a subscription beyond the headlines) has hit on a new revenue stream: photo retouching.

(More on this from Ralph Hanson's blog, including the strange tale of how AP reporter Larry Messina broke this on his blog, then took the story down. No credit to Messina or the AP that he won't comment. I'm betting the D-P complained as an AP member. There are no sacred cows in AP - just members (lol).)