Poynter has an interesting story up about Barack Obama and the staging of presidential photos at the White House. As it turns out, Obama and company re-enacted his walk-out and the first 30 seconds of his televised statement on Osama bin Laden’s death for photojournalists. This is, reports Poynter, not uncommon.

John Harrington, president of the White House News Photographers Association, told Poynter‘s Al Tompkins:

“I am aware of it happening in previous administrations. I believe Bush 41 [George H.W. Bush] did it too. The times where I have known of it happening before is when the president is in the Oval Office and you are working in a very tight space.”

Poynter goes on to quote several photojournalists, many of whom believe there are no ethical concerns to this practice — so long as the caption is clear the photo is staged. For more, read the article.