Yes, the current standards did arise out of a lot of questionable behaviour.

It's awfully tempting for a war photojournalist to pose the group of tearful women in front of the bombed-out building across town. Or for the celeb gossip reporter to collage together two photos without making it clear it's a collage. Or for the person colour-correcting a photo of a divisive figure to lighten or darken their skin.

And the resulting rules are complex and at times judgement-based, because posing subjects is allowed in some circumstances, collages are sometimes allowed, some colour adjustment is allowed, and so on.

Still, serious journalists aren't going to be illustrating their articles about US-Iran negotiations with chatgpt any time soon.