The Wonderful Journalism Ethics of the Middle East, Part I

So, Prince Harry got photographed wearing a Nazi costume at a party, right? It was splashed all over the British tabloids. Our delightful local rag in Dubai, 7Days, printed a photo for their front page showing a smiling Harry holding a copy of the tabloid with his Nazi picture on it. Only problem was -- it was the fakest looking thing you've ever seen.

Unfortunately, the online version only had the top of the picture, so I can't show you the whole thing, but imagine the bottom: Harry, holding in one hand, a ridiculously doctored image of the tabloid front, a perfect rectangle in two flat dimensions, with none of the folding, flapping or wrinkling you'd expect of an actual newspaper when you hold it in your hand. It looked like a doctoring job my cat could have done by walking across the computer keyboard.

The most hilarious part is that they were proud of themselves! This was the caption: "SNAPPED: Harry and the newspaper front page - courtesy of 7DAYS digital wizardry"

I actually love the precedent. Coming soon to this site: "Mark McClellan MD, Ph.D. puts on a ladies' wig and high heels and dances atop CMS headquarters in Baltimore - courtesy of elktown digital wizardry..."

Next time on The Wonderful Journalism Ethics of the Middle East: I meet the world's biggest stooge reporter... Stay tuned...