A fairly major plot-point in my first novel involves the widespread use of digitally-altered “news,” and it’s easy to forget how often this sort of thing actually happens in real life. I’m sure you’re familiar with this recent missile-test image by now, from Iran:

A number of international news agencies ran with the photo, before some savvy someone out there realized it was ‘shopped to make 4 missiles out of 3, and published evidence to that effect. It didn’t take long, then, for all of those Internet smart-asses to ramp-up the image, all the way to 11:

Here are a few more examples of intentional image enhancement in the news, from the Chicago Tribune.

This use of altered or manufactured truth has gone on for centuries, of course. It’s just a lot easier now, and it’s spread much faster, which means we all have to watch that much more closely if we’re looking for the truth.