Hey Eve
I checked out that graphic designer quiz you posted in chat.
http://www.readcentral.com/Quiz/Book/Graphic-Design-Quiz
I think several of those questions they are confusing Art and Illustration of life & science, (drawing out ideas or history if you did not use words) with Graphic Design. Cavemen drew out special events or history. They weren't concerned with the kerning of lettering or what font to use.
anyways... I had to stop at the question of What tool is used by the information designers in journalism to illustrate the background to new stories? I have worked in newspapers for a long time, decades... they don't doctor photos like we do in advertising. The design desk in editorial has photoshop and they will use it to change the pixel size or the format but pretty much leave the image as is. Occassionally they will clip out an image or area of the image to lay over a headline to make it look "alive" but, when I suggest something like "I would do this or change the lighting..." the photographers cringe. No. We don't do that in editorial.
Now I know there have been several publications that have changed photos and then got in trouble for it, but that is not a normal thing.
Now in advertising, that is a whole 'nother ball of wax. We do change things, color, light, flip the images, add things, remove things... we have a series of ads for a clean air company... we took a nice looking family, or a group of softball team boys and put air masks on them. Looks like it was there all the time. Editorial would pass out at the thought! bwahahahahaha
I even had to show the photographer how to make a gif from stills for something online. They do shoot video for advertisements, but I don't know what they use to edit it. But then again, that is advertising and digital team, not editorial.
Thought others would have some other experiences to share...