Pre Work - Image manipulation

As I was preparing for the exercise I found a surprising internet article from PetaPixel (http://petapixel.com/2016/05/26/photoshopped-photos-emerge-steve-mccurry-scandal/) regarding Steve McCurry. 

The articles show that McCurry has been altering some of his images using Photoshop. In the articles it states that in one image a person has been moved in the image to provide a better composition. It follows this up with an investigation into other images produced by Steve McCurry.

One example shows a change in composition where a number of people and the rear end of a bicycle have been removed from the image to improve it. In another a small number of trees have been removed from the background.

These actions are not being viewed with a kind eye by many in the industry. The NPPA ethics committee regards some of the alterations to be an ethical lapse.

Mr McCurry is a photojournalist and a travel photographer and so his images should show some truth but at the same time he is trying to provide a clear image with a clear context and narrative so the viewer can get a good idea of his aesthetic taste especially when he is presenting the image as a travel photography image rather than as a journalistic image.

He has clarified that he has used contrast and tones to alter sections of images, however the images in question on Petapixel he has stated are changes made where elements of the images were moved was wok which he did not authorize and were carried out by a no longer employed lab technician.

I am not sure where I stand on this at the moment, as on one hand this sort of action has been performed by photographers for most of the history of photography and cannot really be construed as falsifying an image. However could his alterations be as the NPPA state, change the journalistic truth of the images and how did these images get to publication without double checking them before final approval. I am left wondering how much truth should be presented within travel photography, it is okay to manipulate an image to present a clearer composition of life in that location, but should the change in elements within an image change the reality of what is being presented.