Let's be clear about who objectified a 17 year old girl at last week's G-8 summit.

It wasn't President Obama. It was ABC's Jake Tapper and FOX News and the New York Post and right-wing bloggers like Ann Althouse (seriously, get a load of the crazy on display here.)

They treated this junior G-8 delegate as an object - for all the world to see - simply so they could crack some stupid jokes about President Obama, or to score some infintismaly small (and false) point against a political figure they don't like.

And then when it was debunked, they just said, essentially, “Oh, we hadn't see the video yet. Bygones.” Well, no. The smear of Obama is already out there; a young woman was already dragged into a ridiculous story that treated her as an object rather than a person. That can't be undone.

Is it really that hard for professional journalists to understand that they shouldn't have peddled this non-story before they actually reviewed the video to see if there was anything to it? Tapper, at least, should already have learned a lesson about watching video before passing on bogus claims about it.

But, having pushed the photo, it isn't enough to now say “never mind.” They owe their viewers, President Obama, and the young woman an apology.

UPDATE: I should have made this clear earlier, but Reuters bears ultimate responsiblity for this mess. Reuters originally distrubted the highly misleading photo in question, and they should have known it would be misinterpreted by some and used in an opportunistic way by others. Whether it was a simple mistake on their part, or a calculated effort to get attention for their photo, they did a big thing badly, and should be first in line with an apology.