This Pulitzer Prize winning photo by John Filo shows Mary Ann Vecchio screaming as she kneels over the body of student Jeffrey Miller at Kent State University on May 4, 1970. National Guardsmen had fired in to a crowd of demonstrators, killing four and wounding nine. LIFE did not and does not manipulate news photos. We have it in the Muskegon Chronicle print and digital archives in its original version. Even at 72dpi on the Michigan Press Photographers Association World Wide Web site you can see how poorly it was done.
Digital images are very easy to alter.
We need to achieve our own level of excellence and, personally, be leaders to maintain the credibility of our profession. This must be done by each individual. The irresponsible photographer can distort the truth as surely as the dishonest one. The potential for the great lie is too easy and too accessible to people who are not trained in ethics and visual communications. Public attitudes towards photographs will change, whether we like it or not.