The Harper's one bewilders me. One of the Marines is faded out, as if he were symbolically missing. That people would misconstrue that as "these pictured Marines are AWOL or deserters" worries me.
That one bugged me, too. Unlike all the other examples, that photo was manipulated to make it obvious that it was a "photo illustration". The only apparent controversy is the context in which the photo appeared. I found an article with more info:
It sounds like some of the marines and their parents are upset, but they don't have much recourse, since the marine base allows the press to photograph the troops without their permission. The one issue that might have been trouble for Harper's was, ironically, the obvious photo manipulation, which is forbidden in the terms of the stock photo license.
