Times ombudsman enlisted in desperate attempt to boost readership of T magazine
New York Times public editor Clark Hoyt gets all tsk-tsky about a photo spread of Ali Michael, "a 17-year-old model who looks younger," that ran in a recent edition of T, the paper's fashion supplement.
Hoyt demands to know "whether photographs of a semi-nude teenager with a certain Lolita quality to them are appropriate for the newspaper, regardless of their artistic merit."
Yeah, back off, T. That's my territory. (By the way, Ali's recent spread in W is less semi-nude but definitely more Lolita. Sadly, W does not have an ombudsman to complan to.)
I wasn't sure I needed to comment on this, but then Susannah Breslin pointed out that the URL for the online version of Clark's essay is http://www.nytimes.com /2007/12/16/opinion/16pubed.html.
Which is funny because the original title for T magazine was totally going to be 16 Pubed.
Comments
Maybe YOUR Headline should read:
"Times photo controversy enlisted in blogger's desperate attempt to publish photo of topless teen (with no legal repercussions.)"
Posted by: al in la | December 17, 2007 06:01 PM
Wow. That W spread is like a horror movie waiting to happen.
Posted by: Jessica | December 17, 2007 06:25 PM
Man, World-of-Warcraft elfporn has totally gone mainstream.
Posted by: Jody Macgregor | December 18, 2007 02:21 AM
Al: It's blurry and hard to see, but I think she's wearing something. Foiled! ;)
As for topless teens with no legal repercussions, Netflix the 1968 version of Romeo and Juliet with Olivia Hussey in it.
Posted by: Anonymous | December 18, 2007 11:10 AM
Anon - or the 1978 Louis Malle film Pretty Baby, with Brooke Shields. Oh wait, she wasn't a teen, she was a pre-teen. Never mind.
It's amazing that people think society has become *more* permissive in the last 30 years.
Posted by: radosh | December 18, 2007 11:20 AM
16 Pubed lost its backers when 16 Shaved went on sale during the layout of the first issue.
Posted by: Charles | December 18, 2007 03:06 PM
I just looked at the W photos - not so much Lolita - more Alice in Wonderland
Posted by: JohnnyB | December 19, 2007 02:44 PM
JohnnyB: six of one...
Posted by: radosh | December 19, 2007 02:46 PM
One pic makes you larger and one pic makes you a sexually precocious object of desire.
Posted by: JohnnyB | December 20, 2007 07:46 AM