The blogosphere is abuzz about USA Today's doctoring of Condoleezza Rice's photograph, giving her demon eyes. Conservative commentators see it as just one more example of the mainstream media's attempts to demonize and marginalize the Bush administration. I don't disagree that a large part of the media are liberal in general and anti-Bush in particular. But USA Today did acknowledge the inappropriateness of its editing, and I'm inclined to accept the explanation:
Editor's note: The photo of Condoleezza Rice that originally accompanied this story was altered in a manner that did not meet USA TODAY's editorial standards. The photo has been replaced by a properly adjusted copy. Photos published online are routinely cropped for size and adjusted for brightness and sharpness to optimize their appearance. In this case, after sharpening the photo for clarity, the editor brightened a portion of Rice's face, giving her eyes an unnatural appearance. This resulted in a distortion of the original not in keeping with our editorial standards.
Besides, I like the demon-eyes Condi. Just imagine arrogant, insufferable foreign leaders being subjected to that steely gaze from President Rice.
