Finger food for thought

A story about a community newspaper that blurred a football team photo to hide possibly inappropriate hand gestures (http://www.omaha.com/index.phpu_page=3930&u_sid =10118493) brought me back several years. At my former newspaper, the publisher took photos at all the firefighter installation banquets of the new officers. One week, we discovered just before publication that in a photo, an officer had his middle finger extended. It seemed to be a statement about our earlier coverage of criminal charges against him, although we couldn't be sure. Our deadline choices were publish or not publish. The publisher didn't want to punish the rest of the officers for the action of one; the photo ran. The officer caught grief from many who knew him. In this case, blurring might be criticized as a distortion of the photo, but the newspaper made clear to readers what it was doing and why. Maybe it wouldn't have been tough to re-pose the players and get a "clean" photo for publication, but maybe this tactic was a message by the newspaper in the name of decency. At least the Times Herald didn't take the "easy," but unethical, way out: air brushing out the gestures.