By now, we’ve all heard about how the hyper-orthodox “newspaper” Der Tzeitung photoshopped Hillary Clinton out of a photo because it would be immodest to see women existing in reality or some such….
And most people have responded with total outrage. I skipped right past the outrage and onto the laughter because these guys are clearly another planet.
But then it occured to me today: Is this ethical, from a journalistic point of view? Definitely not. But might it even be illegal? The photo, which I’m assuming is a White House photo and not taken by anyone in the press, is the intellectual property of someone. Whether it’s the photographer or the government, someone owns the photo. Is it even legal for this so-called news oulet to alter the photo so radically?
