The Economist is in hot water over the cover of their June 19th issue, reports the New York Times. The cover, which features a despondent-looking President Obama standing alone on a beach, was meant to communicate the politically difficult times the President faces in light of the BP oil spill near the Gulf coast. However, the New York Times report shows that the original picture featured two other people standing next to the President that The Economist edited out for dramatic effect. The first figure, that of coast guard admiral Thad Allen, was removed by the cop of the photo, claims the Economist. The other figure, local parish president Charlotte Randolph, was removed "not to make a political point, but because the presence of an unknown woman would have been puzzling to readers."
Photo-editing has been a point of controversy for quite some time, with some arguing that it is a form of deliberate reader deception. Notably, in July 2008 Agence France-Presse retracted a digitally altered image of Iranian missiles. Also, last year, the New York Times removed a slide show from its web site after discovering that one of the photos was digitally edited.