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The Danger of Artistry in Reporting
05/28/2003

Jonah Goldberg comments, today, on a lengthy New York Times article on which I considered posting a few days ago. If I weren't so busy and if it weren't so typical, I probably would have mentioned something about the piece.

Given that Jonah makes essentially the points that I would have included in any commentary (although he's more humorous about it), I just wanted to point out one additional tidbit that I haven't seen anywhere. David Frum mentioned the print-version's cover picture, which I haven't seen. However, the online photos offer much the same story — basically, that conservatives have no emotion and wear essentially identical facial expressions. However, the following picture took things a bit further:

Note how the young lady's head is positioned in front of a design element of the building behind her in such a way as to evoke the impression of a nun. I'm sure the folks at the Times took a moment to chuckle about that one — not the least because the young lady in question is the girlfriend of one of the "Hipublican" ringleaders in the story. Sneering at conservatives and Christians with one click of the camera.

Conservatives — young or otherwise — should make a mental note to follow two rules when being photographed for an old-media outlet: 1) don't relax your smile even for a second when that camera is on you, and 2) take a look what's behind you.

Posted by Justin Katz @ 06:31 PM EST