L'édition papier et les journaux sont-ils condamnés?
No, I'm not saying that newspapers and magazines are toast. It was two French journalists, Nicolas Barré and Rémi Godeau, at Le Figaro who asked Bill Gates (50 today! Happy Birthday, Richest Man In The World!) if the dead-trees version of news and views was all over. And how did le président du numéro un mondial du logiciel respond: "In five years, 40 percent to 50 percent of the people will read the press online." Yes, we agree, but a lot of these people won't be reading USA TODAY unless it stops its Photoshopping blackguarding.
A recent story titled "Rice won't rule out U.S. troops in Iraq in 10 years", is now accompanied by this humiliating Editor's note: "The photo of Condoleezza Rice that originally accompanied this story was altered in a manner that did not meet USA TODAY's editorial standards. The photo has been replaced by a properly adjusted copy. Photos published online are routinely cropped for size and adjusted for brightness and sharpness to optimize their appearance. In this case, after sharpening the photo for clarity, the editor brightened a portion of Rice's face, giving her eyes an unnatural appearance. This resulted in a distortion of the original not in keeping with our editorial standards."
Congratulations to Michelle Malkin who spotted the zombied version of the Condi photo and then led the blogburst that got USA TODAY to eat humble pie. I mean, look at the two images. What made them think they could get away with it? BTW, what would the Fleet Street tabloid headline on this story be? "Condi demon-eyesed"? Love those Fleet Street tabloid headlines. Remember that day in April when the Sun came out and greeted the election of B16 with "Papa Ratzi!" What a business!
