It looks like Newsweek has done it again. Rep. Michele Bachmann, (R-Minn) champion of the Tea Party and 2012 presidential candidate, appears in their latest issue with a wide-eyed look and a banner headline “THE QUEEN OF RAGE.”
The cover has conservative websites all twirled up over what they consider blatant bias by the mainstream media magazine against conservatives.
A similar outcry came in 2009 when Sarah Palin was featured in a “repurposed” image on a Newsweek cover with the banner “How Do You Solve a Problem Like Sarah Palin?”
Detractors are crying foul over what they consider an injustice aimed at high-profile female politicians, but it appears to go beyond that realm. Just six weeks ago we saw a digitally age-enhanced photo of “Princess Diana at 50” on a Newsweek cover. That particular image enraged the masses too.
Bachmann’s press secretary Alice Stewart declined comment on the new cover other than to say, “We are focused on meeting with the people of Iowa in advance of the Straw Poll.
Newsweek tweeted the cover photo and magazine followers immediately began to weigh in. We found one Twitter comment particularly noteworthy, “Newsweek needs to be ashamed for propagating one of the typical female stereotypes used to denigrate women. If you don’t like Bachmann’s positions, say so. But to slot her in the typical witch, bitch, nut or slut memes hurts all women!”
What do you think? Is the unflattering photo of Bachmann and banner headline simply bad form, overly sexist or something else entirely?
Photo: Twitter-Newsweek, shot on Aug 1 in Washington by photographer Chris Buck.