Ogden Daily Exec Editor Apologizes for Doctored Photo

Image via WikipediaThe Ogden, Utah-based Standard-Examiner, the state's third-largest daily, apologized to its readers recently for running a dramatic front-page image on Nov. 27 that was digitally altered by the photographer, a regular contributor to the Sandusky Newspaper chain-owned daily.

The Web site iMediaEthics (formerly stinkyjournalism.org) reported that Standard-Examiner Executive Editor Andy Howell pulled the doctored image from the paper's online edition and apologized to readers in a column on Dec. 17, noting that the offending photographer was a trusted contributor to the daily. The image proved to be a composite of two photos taken 10 minutes apart, one of which depicted a modern commuter train headed toward Ogden, and the other, an Ogden-bound classic Union Pacific Steam Engine No. 844.

The Standard-Examiner claimed it would have labeled the composite image an illustration to avoid deceiving readers had they known it was not a real-time photo of the two trains.  Talk about an engineered photo.