Museum of Hoaxes displays long history of fake photos

A sampling of the dozens of photo manipulations on display in the Museum of HoaxesIf you can believe the Museum of Hoaxes, inscrupulous people have beeen manipulating photos since 1840.

The online museum has an illuminating "Hoax Photo Archive" that traces deception in dozens of photos over the past 170 years. Some of the examples are well known, others not so much. And some of the photo manipulation could be considered egregious in attempting to mislead the public for political gain, while other deceptions are minor and relatively inconsequential.

All, however, remind us that what you see might not reflect reality and that journalism ethics is more important than ever in separating fact from fiction and  trusted sources from unscrupulous operators.