The
phrase that "
photographs never
lie" is often heard to say that
visual proof is infallible. That is, until you change them.
The art of photograph fraud began, as far as I know, in the Stalinist regime in the 1950's. State photographs would contain Stalin and his leading officials. As each of them were purged and sent to the gulag, the KGB (or some other secret government agency) would edit them to act as if the disgraced communist official was never there. It was used to disguise the brutality of Stalin's rule.
As computers came into being, the whole task took a new meaning. Before, they were cut and paste jobs. Now, they can be digitally edited. It is actually a very easy thing to do.
Just like 1984.