This isn't photos being circulated on the Internet. This is more like the time that the National Enquirer published of him exiting a Cancer Center. Which a lot of people here said were fake.
Photos who turned out to be genuine.
Why would TMZ edit the photos, what would they get from it? Does TMZ has a history of editing photos? Look at their site, they really aren't trying to milk having photo for money.
People hating Jobs might decide to doctor photos and spread them on the Internet. But why would TMZ hate Jobs? And why would they risk things by editing the photo?
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Having worked in the media for over 30 years I can tell you that all manner of things could have happened to this photo. It may have been altered by the person selling it to TMZ (and it also appeared in some Australian newspapers) to increase its value, it may have been altered by an agency selling it on behalf of its owner, or it may have been altered by the first media organisation to use it. Certainly to me -and I've worked with images for many, many years - parts of this picture look questionable, to say the least.
The big question though, surely is - who was this "friend" of Steve who allowed the image, whether subsequently photoshopped or not, to get out into the wild? Shame on him.
I have no idea if those pictures were photoshopped or not, but I feel that it is wrong to blame the guy that is standing there beside Jobs. It looks to me like he needs to stay where he is in case Steve falls. And how do we know that he wasn't simply surprised? And another thing, if those pictures are legitimate, then Apple has not been honest with stockholders. And that might even be a crime. I seriously doubt that Steve will be able to do whatever it is that a Chairman of the Board actually does. But who knows, maybe his mind is still as sharp as the proverbial tack! That isn't likely though, if he is as bad off as these pictures suggest, then he is heavily medicated to control the pain. I am not one of those people that think that Steve Jobs is some kind of god or deity to be worshipped as some on this board seem to do, but I do hope that he isn't in any pain and I also hope that if there is no cure for whatever he has... well, I hope that he goes quickly so that he doesn't have to suffer needlessly.