Newsweek found itself at the center of a controversy on Wednesday, after choosing to run a photo of vice presidential hopeful Sarah Palin on its latest cover, that appears not to have been retouched.
After the cover went public, Fox News’ Megyn Kelly, host of “America’s Newsroom,” was one of the first to draw light to the photograph, which shows the 44-year-old Alaskan governor up close, allowing readers to see a reportedly unedited version of Palin.
“This cover is a clear slap in the face at Sarah Palin,” Andrea Tantaros, a Republican political and media commentator said on the show. “Why? Because it’s unretouched. It highlights every imperfection that every human being has. We’re talking unwanted facial hair, pores, wrinkles.”
Tantaros said the cover image of Palin was in stark contrast to previous covers that featured Democratic Presidential hopeful Barack Obama.
“This is a gross slap in the face to Sarah Palin after Newsweek has done so many favorable covers of Barack Obama that make him look presidential, that are clearly retouched,” she said. “He looks flawless. This is a slap in the face and the biggest reason is because the cover [headline] says ‘She’s one of the folks,’ and in parenthesis says ‘and that’s the problem.’”
As for Newsweek, a rep for the magazine said the zoom in on Palin, was to accentuate her smile.
“Nigel Parry’s portrait of Governor Palin was shot and cropped so we could see clearly into her eye and be engaged by (have access to) her smile,” Newsweek Director of Covers, Bruce Ramsay, said in a statement to Access Hollywood.
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