American editors say retouching is a fact of magazine life

Slimming down celebrities (particularly scantily clad ones) with Photoshop won't be ending anytime soon in the States. The American Society of Magazine Editors will talk about it but that's about all:

“ASME is not considering a ban of any kind,” Glamour editor and ASME president Cindi Leive tells Folio: “Given the ubiquity of retouching technology these days—think of brides and their wedding photos—it seems unrealistic to forbid all digital manipulation of photos in any magazine.”

But Leive says ASME is considering a panel discussion on the topic. “Readers should never be misled about what they’re looking at.”

The ASME considerations apparently follow on a similar discussion in Britain where it seems there may be a voluntary code forthcoming that will guide editors on use of electronic buffing, slimming and virtual surgery.

Folio: reminds us that Glamour, which came under fire for its apparent slimming of Ugly Betty star America Ferrera (Glamour denied they did so); Time placed a teardrop on Ronald Regan for its March 2007 cover; and Blender put Britney Spears’ head on someone else’s body.