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In most papers it is a firing offense to load any unauthorized software on a company computer. They have access to Photoshop, but only in the office (or at home). Deadlines require most daily shooters to work on their company laptops in the field (i.e. Starbucks) and file electronically.

This is a hot button issue among photojournalists. There is constant debate over where to draw the line. The Reuters case was blatant, but there have been cases in the US among staffers as well. The most famous was the LA Times photog in Iraq, but a photographer from Charlotte, NC was just fired for embellishing a news photo from a fire.

The focus on photoshop really distracts from the bigger issues of bias. Journalists allow themselves to be willing propagandists when they agree with their subjects and only become pitbulls when they dislike the subject. The same is true in photojournalism. The setup shots from Qana are far worse than clumsy cloning -- yet AP, Reuters and other services defend their handling of the hezbollah agitprop photo-op.

Hezbollah stage manages every aspect of Lebanese coverage, yet the debate in journalism is about the ethics of being embedded with US troops.

Some of the loose stringers have alter egos "Issam Kobeisy" fills in for Adnan Hajj. (And Reuters is keeping him on staff to promote more "fauxtography")

A Lebanese civil defence worker removes the body of a toddler from the wreckage of a building August 8, 2006 that was hit by an Israeli raid in Beirut. The attack which took place yesterday on Chiyah, a residential neighbourhood in Beirut, killed 13 people and wounded dozens according to police. REUTERS/Issam Kobeisy (LEBANON)

(HORRID GASH/NO BLOOD-at least they've started plastering the bodies in dust more evenly)

Apparently, others have noticed the similarities in the two photographers' work. The Jawa Report cites these two "different" images by the two different photographers:

A Lebanese woman cries as she carries belongings from her home which was hit by an Israeli air strike in south Beirut July 23, 2006. REUTERS/Adnan Hajj (LEBANON)

A Lebanese woman cries as she carries belongings she founded in the wreckage of her home that was targeted by the Israeli air strikes,in southern Beirut July 23, 2006. REUTERS/Issam Kobeisi (LEBANON)

Awe heck, maybe it's just a typo...