I CHALLENGE YOU TO DISPROVE ME

Way back on Wednesday, I proved that the photo on the cover of the August 15 Sun was heavily retouched, in flagrant violation of the most basic photojournalism ethics. It’s a fraud. A fake. A ‘fauxtograph.’

The faked area was the chest of Miss Natalie Pinkham, to which the Sun artists had added heavy shading to simulate grotesque breast cleavage. Their motive, obviously, was to make the picture more lurid, to spur newsstand sales. By doing so, they have betrayed not only their own standards, but the journalism profession. Every fake news photo, no matter how trivial, erodes the trust of the readers of every newspaper. The Sun editors have apologized for spurious information in the article accompanying the photo, but still have not admitted to retouching the photo.

Some commenters in my original post took issue with my proof of the Sun’s fakery, saying they thought the unearthly shading of Miss Pinkham’s bosom could conceivably be explained by one phenomenon or another. In my own replies, I valiantly disproved each of their alibis, with appeals to canons of human anatomy and comparisons of true photos of Miss Pinkham with the fake Sun illustration. These commenters have not yet responded, and I consider the allegation thoroughly proven. (Please see the comments beneath that post for all the details.)

But perhaps you disagree? Maybe there are people out there who still think the Sun picture might not have been faked? Or maybe the Sun editors themselves would like to quash these allegations?
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