MIAMI -- The Miami Herald's Spanish-language sister paper acknowledged Friday that it manipulated two photos in a montage that made it falsely appear that two Cuban police officers were ignoring prostitutes gesturing to a tourist.

The picture published June 25 in El Nuevo Herald combined two archived photos _ a 1994 photo of the officers by El Nuevo Herald photographer Roberto Koltun, and a 1998 Associated Press photo of the women by John Moore.

The two pictures were matched closely enough that it appeared the officers were chatting a few feet from the women, but the picture was not identified as a montage.

Executive Editor Humberto Castello said the publication of the picture without an identifying headline was an accident. The problems with the photo montage were first reported Thursday in the Miami New Times, an alternative weekly. A day later, El Nuevo Herald published a long explanation to readers along with the original photographs.

Castello said he found out about the error from the New Times story.

``Here there were two mistakes,'' Castello said in an interview in Spanish, ``one that the photos weren't properly attributed, the other was that it was not then clarified.''

The montage accompanied a story on a book by Cuban writer Amir Valle, entitled ``Jineteras,'' or ``Prostitutes,'' about the thriving industry on the island.

The original plan was to publish the two photos side by side but in different sizes and with the border between them blurred, Castello said.

``On the computer screen it looked good. But it didn't work. The two photos look pasted together on the page,'' he said. Castello said the editor in charge went on vacation around the time the photos were published.

The paper now plans to offer a seminar to its photographers, graphic artists and editors on ethics and design.

AP guidelines require its photos always tell the truth and prohibit altering or manipulating the content of a photograph in any way.

``AP expects its members to abide by these values and principles in their use of AP content,'' the company's Statement of News Values and Principles maintains.

Kenny Irby, a faculty member at the St. Petersburg-based Poynter Institute for journalism, said such incidents can have a broader negative effect on the public's view of the media, casting doubt on authentic photographic work.

``They are tainted by association,'' he said.

El Nuevo Herald is owned by the McClatchy Co. It is one of the largest Spanish-language dailies in the U.S. with a circulation of 98,261, according to the Audit Bureau of Circulation. It was first published as El Herald in 1977.

Earlier this week, the Charlotte Observer, also a McClatchy paper, fired a photographer who altered the color of the sky in a photograph.