Maybe if the US government had not banned photographs of flag-draped coffins back in 1991, there wouldn't be all the furor there is today over Tami Silicio's photograph of flag-draped coffins, published in the Seattle Times (and now elsewhere), and the collection of flag-draped coffin photos gathered through the Freedom of Information Act efforts of www.thememoryhole.org.

We get the Merc delivered every day to Dale and Fri-Sun the Chronicle is delivered as well. I often read the papers side-by-side and compare the news coverage.

Today both papers ran Silicio's photograph on Page One, both with a bit of the photo above the fold. The Chronicle coverage was strikingly similar to the Merc's.

(Feh. The Merc is now requesting a free registration to read its articles online. I'm OK with that but I know many people aren't.)

Quirky, I know, but I always check to see how the two newspapers edit articles obtained from other sources. Today both papers ran non-identical edits of a Bill Carter article from the NYTimes. The NYT itself wasn't running the photograph, though: "The Chronicle purchased rights to publish the photograph on today's front page from ZUMA Press, a photo agency, which is handling distribution. In addition, rights to it have been purchased by a weekly news magazine, according to ZUMA. Until it appears in that magazine, the deal specifically prohibits it from appearing in the Washington Post, USA Today or the New York Times. Proceeds from the sale of the photo will go to a charity selected by Silicio, according to ZUMA."

Or, as the Mercury puts it, "Zuma Press, a photo agency, is handling distribution of the photo. Rights to publish it have been purchased by a weekly news magazine, according to Zuma. Until it appears in that magazine, the deal specifically prohibits it from appearing in the Washington Post, USA Today or the New York Times. Proceeds from the sale of the photo will go to a charity selected by Silicio, according to Zuma."

Any bets that that photo will be on the cover of the next issue of Time Magazine? OK. Maybe Newsweek. Probably not People.

Would there be all this hoorah if photos had been published off and on, numbing the juiciness of this story?

www.thememoryhole.org seems to be overwhelmed with action this morning. I get an "operation timed out" when I try to pull up the site. Ah, the bane and heaven of getting great publicity.

   posted by Sal Towse at  10:29 AM|| |