Shock Magazine has gone out of business after eight issues. A big reason why is that they messed with Michael Yon. They should have asked the US Army public affairs office what it was like to mess with a Yon copyright. Here is the NY Post’s take,
The American version became ensnared in controversy almost from Day One when it ran a picture of an American soldier cradling a wounded Iraqi girl who was fatally injured in a roadside ambush.
The photographer, Michael Yon, objected, claiming that the photo had been purchased from a photo agency that had never obtained the proper rights.
Hachette apologized and offered to make a settlement, but when talks broke down, the photographer launched a campaign that succeeded in getting the magazine yanked from some large retail chains.
That hurt the magazine, since it was designed to be supported mainly by newsstand sales.
Diary of a Hollywood Refugee was able to give Michael the news,
my Christmas present to him as the day grows near when he returns to Iraq to provide us once again with the most emotive, honest, raw, “boots on the ground” dispatches from Iraq.
His response was that of a true warrior: “TARGET DESTROYED”
Michael will be in Iraq any day now. The Dispatches will start soon thereafter.
If you are able to support his work, and would like to do so, go here.
Update: Jay Fitzgerald of the Boston Herald has a great article today on Shock’s demise.