Does Flickr + PhotoShop = Journalism?

THE ASBURY PARK PRESS wrote an article critical of Governor Jon Corzine's financial restructuring plan. And to illustrate the article, the Press created a photo illustration of Corzine peddling items like a common street hood.

Corzine is upset.

"To put it mildly, he was not a happy camper," a Corzine administration official told the New York Times on the condition on anonymity.

His chief of staff wrote a letter to the editor stating: While working with photo editing software may be a useful tool for assembling gag photos or correcting minor imperfections. Using it to manipulate the governor — any governor — into a sinister character is not what we would expect from a responsible media organization.

Did the paper do anything wrong? Didn't they just see an injustice and try to make the public recognize it? Aren't they monitoring government?

Or did they go too far? Was it wrong to fabricate an image?

Would people have read the story if the illustration had not been so eye-catching?

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