I am well aware that even undoctored photos can be used to push an agenda or mislead.

During the 2004 election season, pictures would show up of John Kerry in some silly pose or with a dumb expression on his face. There was one of him holding a gun or something that looked like he had never held one before. Some conservatives made much of this kind of thing, but I pointed out that when someone is pointing a camera at you ALL THE TIME, you will inevitably get caught looking like a dork at some point, particularly a photo taken while you're moving.* Using such pictures in the news (as opposed to, say, a comedy show) when there are always better photos available, is not the height of journalistic ethics in my opinion.

Now and then you can tell a lot about agendas by looking at what photos are picked out to put in the news, news magazines, or on the internet. If you see a photo of Hillary or Bush looking like they'd been lobotomized, you pretty well know where the photo source is coming from politically. The covers of Time and Newsweek are famous for this kind of thing.

*Okay, the shot of Kerry in the clean room "bunny suit" was his own damn fault.