Magazine’s Photoshop Use Draws Complaints
July 6, 2010 by mike

Economist Magazine Defends Photoshop of President/Oil Spill Image

Well, at least you now know how powerful Photoshop CS 5 can be!

As you will see if you go to the above link, the Economist Magazine removed two people from the image of President Obama on the Gulf beach to illustrate the White House battle with BP over the oil spill mess.

The Economist editors said the extra folks in the picture would be too confusing.  But, let’s just call that baloney and get to the point.  Photoshopping out the extra people makes the photograph more visually interesting because it isolates the figure of the President and adds the element of emotion that the Economist editors want you to think had nothing to do with their editorial decision. 

Regardless of whether that violated journalistic ethics (which it probably does), it is what made the photo more powerful and illustrative of the “Obama v BP” cover headline.

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3 Comments »

  1. July 6, 2010 by Tim D.

    Whether they had permission to use the photo from Reuters is one question. Using Photoshop for graphic design purposes, however, is something we do every day! Why is that a problem?

  2. July 8, 2010 by mike

    No problem, Mr. Tim. Photoshop is a wonderful tool. The problem comes when news organizations alter the reality to fit a pre-conceived theme. I am sure all those images of Josef Stalin on wallboards and posters in the USSR were air-brushed in some fashion to make him look good. Here, The Economist Photoshopped an image to make Obama look all alone in his fight against BP — which may or may not be true. Of course if The Economist is only an opinion rag and not a news magazine, then what does it matter? Reuters, which is a news gathering organization, objects to its news photos being manipulated that way.

  3. August 12, 2010 by Randy Adams

    Do you really think the Economist is an opinion rag? Seems to me they dislike all governments, politicians and corporations. Come to think of it , hating everyone is an opinion so I guess you are correct , never mind.

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