Wall Street Journal Photoshops Signs Of Phillies Fans, Misapprehends Minds Of Phillies Fans

Well, this is embarrassing. The Wall Street Journal ran a story last Thursday about how Phillies fans have mellowed on the Mets. The article was a re-write of a story that appeared two days earlier in the The Philadelphia Inquirer. Fair enough. Perhaps Philadelphians behave like that now, although a deeper reporting trip into the stands would likely reveal otherwise. More embarrassing, however, is the job the WSJ did on the stock photos accompanying the story ( as mentioned in WUD this morning). They reek of fakery. It's hard to imagine any self-respecting Phillies fan making a sign that says "Rivals No More!", let alone waving it aloft.

Or this lame effort:

And what's with all the exclamation points? Just put an emoticon on there and be done with it. The WSJ ran a correction over the weekend: "Two photos were digitally altered to put humorous signs in the hands of fans but were not adequately labeled as photo illustrations."

Humorous?

Philly Now a Heckle-Free Zone? [The Wall Street Journal] Inside the Phillies: Phillies, Mets are hardly rivals [The Philadelphia Inquirer]