Shock for Shock

Barely on the stands a day, Shock magazine may be recalled and pulped, if a photographer has his way. According to a story in Ad Age, the inaugural cover features a photograph of a G.I. holding a wounded child. The publication of the picture was never authorized, says photographer Michael Yon, a former Green Beret who went to Iraq as a freelance journalist. Shock's publishers, Hachette Filipacchi, say they bought to rights from a reputable agency, who presumably got the rights from Yon. (see earlier post on Shock's debut)

"The photo in question is that of Major Bieger holding a little Iraqi girl named Farah who was killed by a suicide car bomber in Mosul, Iraq. I first became aware of the infringement when stunned and angry readers contacted me under the mistaken belief that I allowed Shock magazine to use it on their cover," Yon says in a post on his website. "I did not, and never would have agreed to their usage. I regularly turn down usage requests for this photo -- uses that could earn money -- because this photo is sacred to me and is representative of the U.S. soldiers I have come to know. It is also representative of the horrors of the enemy we all face....

"Protecting this photo has become at times a full-time job. I am in Washington D.C. in my attorneys’ offices when I should be finishing two important dispatches on Afghanistan, and my book about our soldiers in Iraq and their families at home."