Michael Yon Update

Tip of the hat to intrepid war correspondent Michael Yon, whom I notified after posting Peter Carlson, Meet Michael Yon regarding the former's strange July 4th review of Shock. That's the Hachette Filipacchi property whose inaugural issue used, without Yon's permission, his heartbreaking photo of a soldier carrying a bloody child. Carlson neglected to mention that fact and the furor that resulted, including boycotts and thousands of retailers pulling copies. Yon generously cites yours truly and continues:

The simplest test of any news organization’s research capabilities is what I call, “the Google test.” This admittedly non-scientific measure is the cyberspace equivalent of the wet finger wind test but just like no one should spray pesticide or laquer without testing for wind, newspapers should perform minimal research before publishing any material, even something as trivial as a magazine review. Google “Shock Magazine” and the copyright controversy is there on the first page of the search results....

Yeah, I don't get that either. Carlson's a media reporter. This was the most important aspect of the magazine's launch, from any perspective that occurs to me as a journalist. Lord knows I've overlooked things when I write, both here and in my aviation trade journalism, but that is one broad side of the barn you missed.

Yon continues:

As an institution that prides itself on being a safe repository for the public trust, the real question for the Washington Post is an either-or. Is the Washington Post incompetent or dishonest? Or, is the Washington Post incompetent and dishonest?...

There's more and I direct you to Yon's site, which you should be reading anyway (I placed him on my blogroll maybe ten days ago, not more than two years after I should have). Here's a special section  devoted to all things Shock.

Two things I want to add. First, fairness compels me to point out that HFM has called its use of the photo an honest mistake. You can find some of its explanations at Yon's site, though I recommend them mainly for entertainment value. The company's conduct since then, including silly charges against Yon for attempting "censorship," is contemptible.

Separately, in my initial post I didn't make it clear enough that this wasn't "just" about copyright infringement, but also about Shock's denigration of the U.S. military. Yon sums it up as excerpted in this June 19 post from NRO's Media Blog:

"They can claim it's not an attack against our soldiers, but there is not a single positive syllable or statistic anywhere in that article," Yon says. "From inflammatory captions like ‘apocalypse then and now,’ to the shoe-horned statistics and misleading claims, to the telling photograph and mention of Cindy Sheehan, this goes beyond patent bias. It’s a smear that leaves no question about what Hachette Filapacchi Media thinks about the United States military...

Last but possibly not least, I also sent an email to the Post's ombudsman, Deborah Howell, with a link to my first post. If I hear anything I'll report it. If anyone else out there writes her, don't abuse her. She didn't write Carlson's story.

UPDATE on Saturday, July 8: Nothing from Howell or anyone else at the Post.

UPDATE on Tuesday, July 11: Response from Howell.

Linked at Wizbang's Carnival of Trackbacks