In retaliation for a negative piece about the ratings race in cable news, Fox News aired a doctored photo of a New York Times reporter.

Thinking back on the scandal that erupted when a newspaper photographer erased a piece of the background from a photo and was later fired, I'm truly shocked that Fox would now claim it's common practice to doctor its photos, as a spokesman says in a follow-up column in the NYT today:

"A spokeswoman said the executive in charge of 'Fox and Friends' is on vacation and not available for comment but added that altering photos for humorous effect is a common practice on cable news stations."

If you watch the clip of this airing on Fox, there's nothing to suggest the headshot has been doctored. Maybe if they'd added a penciled on black mustache and some fangs, it'd have been more obvious.