I'm not buying the sharpening story -- the rest of her is not sharpened. I think they painted in her eyes with an unrealistically light color, and didn't even shade the portion under the eyelid (a trick in most 'learn to draw portraits' books I've read).

As far as whether they 'allowed' that doctored image to slip past them, I have NO idea. But it's only a little bit scarier than the original X^0

The unsharp mask is normal practice when reducing the size of a picture that much. It recaptures some of the definition lost through the reduction.

The whitening is the odd part, but I doubt malicious. Whoever was doing it probably thought the eyes were still largely lost after the reduction and came up with the whitening as compensation.

It might even work on newsprint, but my first guess is that it was just a crappy job by someone not very talented under a time crunch. Like the first comment said - stupid's more likely than bias.

I don't buy for a minute that professional graphics editing people with the latest in onscreen graphics programs on their computers who are checking on photo quality for the front page made a simple "oopsie" on a Bush cabinet official.

Well maybe they could. But given USA Today's usual Lefty stance and the smugness of some Lefty people out there, I doubt it.

Lest anybody think this is just a 1-time "mistake" by MSM graphics people on African-Americans of note in the news.... Remember the TIME cover illustration of O.J. Simpson? It was "accidentally" retouched to make him look like a KKK recruitment poster. The MSM has gotten into the habit of "accidental" cheap shots at people they dissaprove of.

I know what you mean.

But you are being a bit of a jerk to say that "THE PEOPLE at USAToday" are all unethical because one smartass got funny with Rice's picture. That's attacking a whole lot of professionals with no connection to the offense.

Take one normal photo... Add a little enhancment to the eyes... And you get one very disturbed/angry/possessed looking person, courtesy of USA Today. Wizbang notes a little doctorin' going on w/photos of Condi Rice in USA Today. (Now they wouldn't...

Also, if you look across the jawline, it appears to have been widened or at least heavily shadowed, specifically look at the earring on her left ear, it's a hair bigger in the doctored photo, and almost looks turned towards the camera, as if it was cut out and repasted inexpertly.

This photo has been doctored. And VERY badly.

I don't know what it says about USA Today that they felt they had to darken her skin....