perfidy

Late last spring, Boston Globe editor Martin Baron ran a page 1 pic that purported to show American soldiers caught in the act of raping Iraqi girls. It pissed off alot of people, not the least of whom were citizens confused about why such a graphic photo was in the paper at all, let alone the front page. It was also cause for kookier elements of the state government to parade around with the pics, decrying the acts, the American military, yanqui imperialists, whitey, and The Man.

Only problem was that the pics were fake. Not only were they not pictures of a heinous act, the men in question were not soldiers. It was all staged by...ahem...models, in costumes, and posted on a porn site for kinkos who dig rape scenes.

The story of the real source of the pics came from the semi-strange World Net Daily, and after a brief round of blaming the messenger, the Globe sort of apologised for printing graphic pics but not for running fake ones, or for smearing American soldiery.

In recognition of this deed, and characteristic of what befalls such men in this part of the world, Baron is being rewarded. He's been named George Beveridge Editor of the Year by the National Press Foundation. Among the criteria for the award is imagination. He certainly demonstrated his imagination with that little photo caper: at first, by imagining he had the scoop of the year; and later for his fantastic powers of denial, suggesting a robust imagination indeed.