The photo in question. The plane was flipped upside down, which the Globe and Mail forgot to tell readers. (Credit: Globe and Mail via Reuters/Luke MacGregor, screenshot)

Reuters intentionally flipped a photo of a G3 jet upside down but when the Globe and Mail published it, it forgot to disclose the photo alteration to readers, public editor Sylvia Stead wrote recently.

The photo showed a Gulfstream G3 jet from 2010 and should have included a tag line saying “image has been rotate 180 degrees,”  Stead wrote.

But since the Globe and Mail didn’t disclose the changes to the photos, which Reuters had included in its caption information, readers complained and questioned the photo.  The newspaper published a clarification that read the photo was “intentionally inverted by the photographer for compositional reasons. The Globe’s caption omitted this explanation.”

What do you think? Is it OK to make the world upside down in a news photo as long as it’s disclosed?