The Disgraceful Behavior of Shock Magazine

Michael Yon is suing the French magazine Shock for stealing his copyrighted photo for the cover of Shock’s recent issue comparing Iraq to Vietnam. [Can’t they think of something fresher than that?-ed. Evidently not.] This is, of course, nothing less than theft and I hope Yon succeeds in his suit. In fact, I hope this one goes to trial and Shock is put out of business as an example to other publications who would consider stealing someone’s intellectual porperty. If I were Shock’s owners – HFM, also the owners of American Photo, Boating, Car and Driver, Cycle World, ELLE and Metropolitan Home, among many other reputable publications – I would be very anxious to disassociate myself from these thugs at Shock. And as as a former president of the West Coast branch of PEN, I call upon the international writers’ organization to support Yon in his suit. It affects us all.

UPDATE: HFM also owns Hachette Photos. In this case, sauce for the goose is obviously not sauce for the gander.