Remember last year when I went on a rampage over
the overuse of "What Happens Here Stays Here" and derivative cliches throughout the media? Well, I've spotted a new Vegas journalistic menace and I want your help stamping it out wherever it may rear its ugly head.
Outdated Vegas skyline photos. It's not quite as insidious as lazy writers thinking they're clever; I know photo editors in New York or elsewhere can't possibly keep track of what the Vegas skyline looks like right now. But they at least ought to be aware that it changes at least as often as their underwear and, thus, they should be alerted when they're using unforgivably old images. Indeed, they wouldn't send their relatives 3-year-old picture of their children and claim they represent their present-day appearance, so they should check the date before using some of the images they do.
Two case-in-points. The first one comes from
my own piece on 2-3-08 in The New York Times about Vegas paparazzi:
I date this shot by the Times' Jim Wilson to at least 2006, based on the old Aladdin being intact and the Boardwalk Hotel-Casino still existing. Of course, I welcome anyone who can get a more exact read on it. I did notify my editors, who told me they'd flag it in their archives and get something newer.
My second example comes off of Newsweek.Com, where
this picture accompanied a 2-18-08 rave review of the Vegas-set novel-of-the-moment, "Beautiful Children" by Charles Bock.
Obviously, this image shot by Richard Cummins of the Corbis photo agency is a lot more egregious. Siegfried & Roy are still on the marquee at The Mirage, for God's sake. That means it dates at least back to 2003.
The irony of that one is that I went to the Newsweek site because I was fascinated by the photo that actually was published with the same review in the print edition. I didn't have any criticism of it, but I'm still having trouble determining the vantage point from which it was taken. Since it wasn't online, I scanned it in and I hope you can see it:
Miles and I both stared long and hard at this shot by W. Van Cappellen of Reporters/Redux Pictures. At first I think it was shot in a room at the Flaming-O, but then it doesn't explain the resort's full-bodied reflection overlaid on the southerly view of Las Vegas Boulevard south of Flamingo Road.
Anyhow, please point to way when you see the major media using stale Vegas skyline photos. It is a scourge and it must be stopped!
