re: From a writer's perspective...
What you don't mention, however, is the danger of passing off a work of total fiction ( say, claiming a rock is a log, and claiming the images are leaked, when they've been online from the very day they were taken ). Quite a lot of people actually believe it to be true or, like Lindy, are at a tipping point of believing it to be true. What next - Anti-Vax stories, 2012 doom-mongers or Apollo conspiracy nonsense?
I'm not one for trusting government without question - but MER intentionally decided to be an open mission, images straight on the web for all to see. Seeing some conspiratorial nutjobs writing utter lies about the mission is an attempt to throw mud in the face of those who decided to be open in the first place.