TV programs love talking about the controversial new Time magazine cover. They're just a little shy about showing the whole thing.
For a story about "attachment parenting" — whose leading proponent, Dr. Bill Sears, advocates such extreme parenting techniques as "extended breast-feeding" — the magazine photographed 3-year-old Adam Grumet with his mouth over the partly exposed breast of his mom, Jamie Lynn Grumet.
Time editors have made no apologies, arguing that the point of a magazine cover is to get attention. And attention it got across the TV dial on Thursday — although the image proved a little too much for many.
"I'll tell you why that bothers me," said Mika Brzezinski, cohost of "Morning Joe" on MSNBC, who appeared irritated by the image. "It's a profile of Bill Sears, and that's a young, attractive woman." The cable news network — which has a weekly segment with Time to talk about stories — blurred out Grumet's breast and showed the entire cover only from a distance.
ABC's "The View" likewise lavished attention on the cover but felt compelled to cover up Grument's breast with a black circle.
But not everyone is following that approach. A Fox News spokeswoman told Show Tracker the network — which hasn't yet covered, so to speak, the story — doesn't plan to restrict the image if a segment does materialize - at least on any entertainment or opinion-oriented show (a news piece might be a different matter). A spokeswoman for CNN did not immediately return an email seeking comment.
What do you think of Time's new cover? Should the TV networks edit or avoid showing it?
[11:12 p.m.: This post was updated to include additional clarification from Fox News that it would be opinion or entertainment shows that would not tamper with the image - not necessarily news coverage.]
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