Photographer's image stolen by porn film company

Lara Jade, a very talented 17-year-old photographer in the UK fell victim to TVX Films when the company stole a self-portrait from her DeviantArt.com Web site to use on the cover of the DVD porno "Body Magic."

Jade took the shot when she was 14.

She emailed the president of TVX Films who, in addition to being a thief, is evidently illiterate, based on his response. Jade is attempting to find an attorney in the U.S. that will take the case.

Simon Dumenco empties both barrels at "underqualified, opportunistic M.B.A. types"

Simon Dumenco, Advertising Age's Media Guy, has some harsh words for print publishing moguls.

When he's right, he's right

Richard Schickel, film critic for Time magazine and a book reviewer for the Los Angeles Times, holds forth on the "elite enterprise" that criticism is--or should be. I'm sure he's ruffled the feathers of bloggers who purport to be critics, but, that's a good thing.

Three Steichen images from 1908 recovered

George Eastman House


Three autochrome glass plates, shot by Edward Steichen, were recently donated to the George Eastman House collection in Rochester, NY.

The images were owned by 96-year-old painter, Charlotte Albright, daughter of the woman on the plates. Her mother, Charlotte Spaulding, was a student of Steichen's and, for a brief period, a photographer herself.

And you thought they couldn't outsource local reporting?

I realize I'm a couple weeks late on this but it's created such a buzz in newsrooms across the U.S. that it's worth a mention. The publisher of the PasadenaNow Web site, James Macpherson, has hired two Indian journalists to cover the Pasadena city council from India via Webcasts.

My own staff covered news in Charlotte, Louisville, Newport News, Phoenix and Austin from Dallas for Belo Corp. So, it can be done. How much local news coverage is really done face-to-face--particularly at smaller news outlets?