Halperin Crosses the Line

Editor-at-large posts doctored, sexually suggestive photo of Sen. Landrieu

Washington, DC - Today, Media Matters for America denounced Time magazine and editor-at-large Mark Halperin for altering a picture of Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-LA) on his Time.com website, The Page, to resemble a sexually suggestive reference to the movie, There's Something About Mary.

"Halperin's experiment with Photoshop is no better than Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh calling Sen. Landrieu a prostitute," said Eric Burns, president of Media Matters. "While it is certainly commendable that Time took this sexist image down from its website, Halperin's actions demand an immediate apology."

BACKGROUND:

Halperin published the offensive image of Sen. Landrieu on The Page under the headline, "There's (Still) Something About Mary" -- a reference to a sexually suggestive scene from the movie. The site has since pulled the image down.

As Media Matters noted, "The page to which he links doesn't have anything to do with semen, romantic comedies, or hair gel. In fact, it's a statement from Sen. Mary Landrieu's (D-LA) Communications Director 'on motion to proceed timing' on the Senate's health care reform bill."

The doctored photo is just one of many recent attacks on Sen. Landrieu. On both his radio and television shows, Beck called the senator a prostitute and said: "So we know you're hookin', but you're just not cheap." Echoing Beck, Limbaugh claimed that Sen. Landrieu "may be the most expensive prostitute in the history of prostitution."

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Media Matters for America is a progressive research and information center dedicated to monitoring, analyzing, and correcting conservative misinformation in the media. For more information, visit www.mediamatters.org