I recently read this other article that showed the winning image and was bothered by the processing:
Why Do Photo Contest Winners Look Like Movie Posters? And a follow up piece by the same guy that shows the winning photo both as it was submitted and won the award and how it was first published.
They bring up some interesting issues on image processing and photojournalism.
It is odd how a bit of selective color and a great deal of dodge and burn can make the emotional impact of a shot so much greater. They take the image from a staged event to a heroic battle. Great for photography, lousy for journalism.
So much of today's so-called journalism has more in common with the sensationalism of "yellow journalism" than actual journalism. Journalism today is so much less about the actual truth and so much more about manipulating the truth to support whatever viewpoint you want people to believe or be sympathetic with.
