What is Col. Abbott thinking???

I just read an article on NPPA about an image of a General that was digitally manipulated. I typically laugh at these and blow them off as yet another idiot that had no idea or yet another idiot general who did not have time in his(her) schedule to pose for a photo and ordered someone to 'Fix It.' I saw it enough times in my career and will see more of it in the future. What really blew me away was what the chief of the Army's media relations division was quoted as saying. " "We're not misrepresenting her," Abott told the AP. "The image is still clearly Gen. Dunwoody." " 

My friend Johnny Bivera and I have talked about his push to try to create a code of ethics for military photography that is clearly trampled on and misunderstood on a regular basis. There needs to be an adoption of standards by the military of similar standards set forth by the NPPA or WHNPA.

Believe what you will about the military feeding propoganda and manipulating imagery. I see more of it in the civilian media than ever in the military. That isn't the subject. The subject is that civilian media have checks and balance on ethics and responsibilities for showing true and ethical images. If AP bans the DoD then you know soon others will follow suit. When are these people going to realize that if one image is defended as being real and is found manipulated then every one afterwards will be expected as being manipulated as well. 

In the military lingo I have not yet forgotten. This is UNSAT!!!

Here is the article on NPPA. http://www.nppa.org/news_and_events/news/2008/11/general.html

AA