By: E&P Staff It had to be the first time The Washington Post ever published a photo of the daughter of a possible future president with black bars covering her breasts. It was much ado about nothing, of course, but still "revealing" of how the press now handles risque photos in print vs. online.
It all began on Monday, when Sen. John Kerry's daughter Alexandra, a film-maker, walked up the red carpet at the Cannes film festival. She was wearing a black dress, off the shoulder on one side, and apparently not much underneath. When the flash bulbs inevitably popped, her bare-naked upper torso was clearly visible through the fabric, if only for a second. Of course, photographers captured that second, perfectly.
The highly revealing photo was published all over news sites on the Web, but newspapers in print have taken a varying approach. The New York Post published the shot with the headline "Kerry's Daughter is in Top Form." The Washington Post, on the other hand, went the retro "black-bars-across-breasts" route, while the Boston Herald showed her only from the neck up. "She seems to be doing her best Janet Jackson imitation," the wife a local pol told the Herald.
Washington Times Editorial Page Editor Tony Blankley told Lloyd Grove of New York's Daily News, "It was a lovely photograph," but doubted it would sway votes. Former Al Gore campaign manager Donna Brazile commented: "Too much information! Whatever happened to earth tones?"
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