Photoshop Aberration

So it's been all over the news. Reuters freelance photographer Adnan Hajj altered photos of the bombings in Beirut. Every article I've read about this issue has focused on how journalism is not to be treated as "creative nonfiction." Fact should not be tampered with; if they're altering the billowing smoke from a bomb blast, what else are they not telling us straight up? That's all valid, and I'm not here to take anything away from these arguments. In fact, I wholeheartedly agree that even the most minor of alterations is unacceptable.

I have not, however, read anything at all about the crudeness of the alteration, and how obvious the tampering looks. The image looks false. There seems to have been no attempt to make the smoke look even remotely realistic. Furthermore, there are ways to enhance the photograph (as far as sharpening and increasing contrast, or burning into the shot) that would not objectively alter the image, i.e. would intensify it without actually adding or removing any information. The new clouds of smoke are obviously a poorly done copy/paste job executed with the clone stamp. Besides the obvious reason why this guy is being dumped, he is also a lousy photoeditor, and should be let go on those grounds alone.