One of the hardest things that your GetReligionistas do, day after day, is search for non-copyrighted art to illustrate our posts.
Most of the time we strive for art -- such as YouTube links -- that adds actual content to the piece or some kind of graphic device linked to the topic. Sometimes, we pick art that makes an editorial comment, an ironic one even, about a particular story, like using a "delete key" close-up with a post about an alleged news report that we think shouldn't have been written in the first place.
Long ago, I spent several years laying out the inside pages of a small daily newspaper and, trust me, I know what it's like to struggle to find logical file art to illustrate a story.
Want to see a great example of now not to do this sort of work?
Brothers and sisters, I am in total agreement with faithful reader Thomas Szyszkiewicz on this OMG International Business Times howler.
Step 1: Click here to see the Reuters photo used to accompany a story with this headline:
Inmates of 'Hey Dad…!' actor Robert Hughes attack him with poop and urine on his first day of prison
Step 2: Read the top of this "news report" (scare quotes because it actually appears to be mere aggregation). Here is a sample.
“Hey Dad…!” actor Robert Hughes, who has been imprisoned on charges of indecent assault against children, was attacked by the inmates. As soon as he started walking into a yard in Goulburn Prison in 2014, the prisoners threw cartons of faeces and urine at him through a fence that separated Hughes from at least 30 other inmates.
The attack, which was pre-planned, left Hughes covered with poop and urine on his first day in jail. ... One of the Goulburn guards said, “They just unloaded, piss and poo -- they covered him in it. It was his first day in Goulburn and he was brought out into the yard.”
That's a pretty vivid image.
Step 3: Now read the caption on the photo that, allegedly, illustrates this news story.
IN PHOTO: A demonstrator holds a banner during a protest against the visit of Pope Benedict XVI in London September 18, 2010. Pope Benedict apologised to victims of sexual abuse on Saturday, saying paedophile priests had committed unspeakable crimes and brought "shame and humiliation" on him and the entire Roman Catholic Church. Hours after the apology, up to 10,000 chanting demonstrators snaked though the streets of London to protest against his handling of the abuse crisis and his views on homosexuals and the ordination of women.
Step 4: Read the Szyszkiewicz comment that accompanied this IBT URL in the email that he sent GetReligion.
Maybe IBT is playing a game of "guess the connection"? The photo is of a demonstration in Australia against Pope Benedict XVI. The story is about an Aussie actor who was convicted of offenses against children and his horrible first day in jail. Besides the child sex abuse issue, can you guess the connection between the story and the photo?
Step 5: Shudder and/or scream in outrage if you are fond of journalism.
Step 6: Click "comment."
So, readers, how would YOU word the factual or journalistic connection in the mind of the layout editor who used this photo of a protest against a conservative pope to "illustrate" a piece about this prison drama involving a disgraced actor?
Keep it clean.