There's a lot of talk about a recent article in Editor & Publisher by David Perlmutter that says photojournalism may be dead. Perlmutter is no novice...he teaches photojournalism at the University of Kansas School of Journalism. First off, he being a member of academia, I applaud his bravery for even broaching the subject in this manner. Specifically, Perlmutter gives all due credit to Charles Johnson and other bloggers for their efforts to expose the fraud being perpetrated by media outlet like Reuters.

However, this whole Fauxtography flap is really not new. There are only two things that have changed: better technology, i.e. Photoshop; and the rise of the bloggers or, if you will, The Fifth Estate. Fraud via photojournalism has been prevalent since the Vietnam War. I remind folks of the infamous photograph of a Vietnamese girl being hit with napalm. Presented as being caused by American troops, in reality the only Americans around at the time were journalists and doctors...doctors who saved the life of the naked girl. But until now there hasn't been much scrutiny of photojournalism and thus people mistakenly think it's a new problem. No, it's an old one.

MORE: And the beat goes on.

UPDATE: Instapundit: Call it "suicide."