It is not acceptable to lie. Touching up photos is considered unacceptable when publishing an image that is intended to represent facts or truth, such as in newspaper reporting. An example of this might be to edit a person's facial features, such as retouching wrinkles or straightening a crooked nose. Those wrinkles and that nose are a factual part of that person.
Yet some retouching of photos is generally acceptable. If some hair is out of place on an otherwise good photograph, one might argue that it is acceptable to edit that hair as long as it doesn't alter the representation of the person.
It is generally understood, however, that advertisements are doctored in order to present absolute perfection – such as in the Dove Evolution ad. Take a close look at the models in ads for beauty products or lingerie. Could anyone possibly have skin that flawless? (Well, maybe I shouldn't tell you to look at lingerie models, but they are a good example.)
In August of 2006, Reuters news agency released the fraudulent photo above (known in the blogosphere as a fauxtograph) which had been altered to appear more sensational than the original. The photographer, Adnan Hajj, had used the clone stamp tool to make a column of smoke appear darker and larger than in the original, unretouched photo. It created an outrage — not only in the media community but also by news consumers around the globe — which resulted in the pulling of all Hajj's photographs from Reuters' services, and the firing of Hajj and his editor. See the images and read about more photo fraud at the links below.
http://littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/?entry=21956_Reuters_Doctoring_Photos_from_Beirut&only
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1681155/posts
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