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| The latest issue of Newsweek uses Stewart's head and a model's body. |
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NEW YORK (CNN Money) -
In a move that has raised questions of professional integrity, Newsweek magazine has combined an image of Martha Stewart's head and a model's body on its latest cover, according to a report Thursday.
The New York Times says the Newsweek cover depicts what looks to be a real full-body photo of Stewart, albeit a few pounds lighter, parting a curtain. The text reads "Martha's Last Laugh: After Prison She's Thinner, Wealthier & Ready for Prime Time."
According to the Times, Newsweek Assistant Managing Editor Lynne Staley said the photo was not meant to be deceptive but rather to illustrate what she might look like when she's released from prison, which could come as early as Friday. Staley said a credit on the table of contents noted the image was a fake.
But Janice E. Castro, a director at Northwestern's school of journalism, said the fact that the image did not look completely artificial and could be mistaken for the real thing was a problem, according to the article.
"If a reader thinks its a news photo, an actual photograph, as opposed to a piece of art, then you should never change the truth of the photo," Castro told the Times.
Staley agreed and said the magazine should have been more careful, perhaps using an image that clearly couldn't have been mistaken for a real picture.
"They fumbled, they blundered, but this is not like misrepresenting the news," Castro told the paper. "They just did a dumb thing."
Meanwhile, Stewart is due to leave a federal prison in West Virginia, probably Friday, after serving five months for lying to federal investigators about a personal stock sale in late 2001. Her official release date is Sunday, but because that falls on a weekend, prison officials could release her as early as Friday.
Five months ago Martha Stewart one-upped the media by checking into prison before the television cameras had arrived.
While she ducked media coverage when she reported to prison last October, on her way out this week, she's apparently planning to let the world watch.
Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia (Research), the lifestyle company that Stewart founded and led until her conviction a year ago, is planning to provide a flat-bed truck for the media to use to get a good shot of Stewart as she enters the chartered plane in West Virginia that will take her home, CNN has learned.
Click here for more on that story.
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