It's pretty easy to attack BP these days--with hundreds of millions of gallons of oil floating around in the Gulf of Mexico, faulty traps and caps, and lousy attempts at compensation.

The BP photoshop mini-scandal is just one of the twigs branching off this tree of disaster. But, a funny one. Basically, BP put up a fake picture of it's 'Crisis Command Center' for the oil spill. Here's a summary in links, for those of you who haven't followed:

• A blogger notices the discrepant photos.
• BP admits doctoring them, and removed them from it's website."The spokesman Scott Dean said yesterday that three screens were blank in the original picture and a staff photographer used Photoshop software to add images," says an article at the Guardian.
• "Scott Dean, a spokesman for BP, said that there was nothing sinister in the photo alteration and provided the original unaltered version.."Americablog weighs in again

original.....doctored

And then, more fun...

• Poor photoshop skills -Gizmodo
• "Apparently BP is no more adept at doctoring photos than it is at plugging deep-sea oil leaks,"says an article at the Washington Post.
• Why would BP photoshop its Crisis Command Center?

1. The Photo was too old (It's from 2001.)
2. Bp feared the blogosphere
...and on...-Aol News

• And finally, Wired's fun--Help BP learn how to use Photoshop.

There's also extra visual fun to be had at BP's own 'BP Altered images' flickr site.

What do we think about all this? Well, it's not surprising that BP has tried to get away with altering the truth on another occasion(how much oil is leaking, again?) Par for the course. What is mildly surprising is that they would immediately own up to it. But, let's not give BP any credit--when you take into account that the photos were so obviously doctored--they were probably just saving face.

The real question is--is all the negative publicity really worth doctoring the photo in the first place?