A reader called us Tuesday morning, accusing us of having plopped President Clinton's mug smack in the middle of an AP photo of King Hussein's funeral procession. We hadn't done that, of course, but the reader hung up before we could get a word in and tell him that. The AP and The Journal Times both have photo ethics codes that forbid such photo maniplulation, but the reader, who was evidently savy enough to know that it wouldn't have been that hard to manipulate the photo, doesn't know or care about our ethics codes.

President Clinton walks behind the casket of King Hussein of Jordan as they depart the Raghdan Palace enroute to the Royal Guards Mosque in Amman, Jordan, Monday, Feb. 8, 1999. A reader called Tuesday morning, and accused us of electronically inserting Clinton into the scene. Photo by Doug Mills/ Associated Press (c) 1999 (with permission)

As a photo editor I don't have to look too far to answer the question of where readers get the notion that we might mislead them with our photos.

It's not uncommon for our subjects to suggest we stage a photo if we can't get the real McCoy. They don't always understand our refusal to accept their gracious offer. Willie's handlers probably thought they were doing the right thing when they invited photographers to cover the phony funeral, but they just added to the perception that what you see in the morning paper or on television may not bear much relation to reality.

A crew from a Milwaukee TV station didn't help the cause, either, Monday, when they were covering a press conference to announce that the Imaginarium, a proposed children's museum in Racine, had secured a $2 million loan, and would begin construction after four years of planning. The media-savy museum folks rounded up a group of children and had them hold up large letter spelling I-M-A-G-I-N-A-R-I-U-M in order. Up went the "I," then "M," and so on. Whooops...the TV guys blew their shot. "Could you do that again?" they asked.

Last year I watched another station's reporter tell school children to do the "Packer-rena," a local take-off on the Macarena, danced to the tune of a Green Bay Packers anthem. The kids were otherwise occupied, but that didn't bother the reporter who decided that the truth be damned, it'd make a great visual to get the kids up and dancing for the cameras. The camera doesn't lie.

Really???

Ours don't, but try telling that to some of our readers.

Behind the Viewfinder - A Year in the Life of Photojournalism
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