What's up with that head shot?

Back when I was a reporter for a small newspaper in Vermont, I'd watch in awe as our photographer went through an entire roll of film just to get a head shot of a subject. Didn't matter if it was a big-wig politician (like Howard Dean) or a retiring teacher, he'd patiently shoot dozens of pictures just to make sure he'd get a good one. Then he'd agonize over which one to use in the paper, wanting to make sure that the picture was as flattering as possible. This was before digital photography, so it was an interesting process.

But that photog also showed me how the Associated Press photos that we got over the wire could easily be manipulated to say something about the subject. The AP would send several pictures of every prominent person in the news that day, and it would be up to the newspaper's editors to decide which to use. At our left-leaning newspaper, we often ran pictures of Republicans with their mouths contorted into some evil grimace and Democrats with pleasant smiles. Most media outlets in the country do that. A recent example is that first debate between Bush and Kerry, where the split-screen was manipulated to make the president seem as tall as the challenger.

That said, what can (should) we think about the people in charge of the WBBM Newsradio 780 website, where every photo of Governor Blagojevich makes him look like such a goof?