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Townhall...
Gutter Journalism at
Newsweek
By Armstrong Williams
6/9/2011
If you ever needed a reason for why news magazines are starving for
attention and consumer dollars, just stroll down the aisle of your
favorite supermarket and you can judge this industry by its cover(s)
alone. They’re pathetic. They continually fight against their very core
to deliver cutting-edge journalism that compiles the top stories of the
week, and instead look increasingly like their neighboring world
wrestling federation pubs.
I couldn’t believe what I saw last night while in my area bookstore. I
had heard about Newsweek’s controversial cover of Governor Mitt Romney
and a colleague remarking how “tasteless” it was, but it didn’t hit
home until I actually saw it.
There on the cover I saw some gangly body with the head of Mitt Romney
photo-shopped on top. The idea was to borrow a theme from the Broadway
musical “The Book of Mormon” and affix some political twist with a
back-handed compliment that all those darn Mormons are just so
successful these days… What gives?? As if anyone outside of Manhattan
would pick up on such stupidity.
This is beyond poor taste or junior varsity decision-making by
Newsweek’s editors. They were clearly trying to make a statement – to
mock the Republican’s presidential front-runner and remind everyone who
didn’t already know that Mitt Romney was some “crazy” Mormon.
Why is it that Newsweek and other mainstream media publications can
feign outrage and trot out all sorts of “isms” when it suits their
agendas, yet it’s perfectly acceptable mock others as they deem? Will
Newsweek’s editors next run a photo of Rick Santorum on a Catholic
cross with some cute headline of his messianic drive toward the White
House? Where is the line? And who at Newsweek gets to decide?
The sad commentary here is that Newsweek is now notorious for such
infantile moves. And their chief target during the past few years has
been Sarah Palin. The magazine’s disdain for the Alaskan governor is
palpable. On its Oct. 13, 2008 issue, Newsweek ran an extreme close-up
shot of Palin on its cover. Only that one was not photo-shopped,
revealing less-than-flattering views of her deep pores, stray facial
hair and other blemishes a woman would never want shared. Ever see that
with Hillary Clinton when she was running? Let’s put it this way, if
the same photo was taken of Vice President Joe Biden, we could probably
count the number of ear hairs the man had, as well as how many of his
teeth were beginning to yellow.
Not to be outdone, Newsweek followed up with a mid-November 2009 cover
of Palin showing her legs in some high-cut shorts. The shot was
actually not taken by Newsweek, but instead bootlegged off a cover
shoot Palin did for Runner’s World magazine.
This is a world-class news magazine. Why does it need to stoop to such
lows to advance its agenda and tear down conservatives?
Try and think of one shot of President Obama on the cover of a magazine
in an equally unflattering light. You can’t.
The Newsweek Romney cover is beyond the pale. Draw a parallel to our
sitting president if you disagree.
Would anyone cry foul if Obama were running for president and Newsweek
depicted him in the colorful Maasai tribal garb of his father’s African
homeland, Kenya? You get the idea and the stereotype formed there. No
one would dare accept such an overtly racist depiction. And yet
Newsweek shamelessly bashes a man for his religious faith, and we’re
expected to view that as all in good taste?
Read it at Townhall
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