PressEthic

There was something so deliciously fiendish about the series of pictures on the front page of The New York Times on Monday. In case anyone missed it (and I am sure not many did) they ran three pictures depicting President Bush in a not so favorable light.

The pictures captured him in an attempt to escape hostile press in China. In his haste to get away the president tried to walk out of a door that was apprantly locked, and an aide had to guide him to the right one.

Reuters ran a story on the incident with the headline claiming ‘Locked doors thwart Bush's bid to duck question’.

When the reporter asked for "a very quick follow-up," Bush cut him off by thanking the press corps and telling the reporter "No you may not," as he strode toward a set of double doors leading out of the room. The only problem was that they were locked. "I was trying to escape. Obviously, it didn't work," Bush quipped, facing reporters again until an aide rescued him by pointing to him toward the correct door.

I don’t know if it is ethical to use up the prime space on the front page of a newspaper for an incident, that is basically nothing more than the President commiting yet another public blooper. However, I do know that they were truly hilarious pictures, and caught everyone’s attention. At the expense of sounding clichéd it seems sometimes there really is no escaping the press.