Cut-throat world of fashion using child models

In the financially-strapped world of fashion, younger and younger girls are appearing in adult fashion ad campaigns. A 10-year-old so-called "supermodel" recently graced the glossy pages of French Vogue, all dolled-up, suggestively positioned on a couch with a sultry stare. 13-year-old actress Elle Fanning posed for high-fashion designer Marc Jacobson, looking wise beyond her years as she glared vacantly into the camera clutching a purse. Her sister Dakota, at 17 an industry vet, is featured in an ad for Marc Jacobs’ new perfume “Oh Lola!” with the flower-blooming bottle positioned between her legs.

Then there’s 14-year-old Oscar nominee Hailee Steinfield sporting feminine ensembles as the model for the Miu Miu August/Winter 2011 campaign, and “Keeping Up With the Kardashians” starlet Kendall Jenner inking a deal to become the face of Australian swimwear label Leah Madden's Summer 2012 campaign “Pirouette.” As for Prada’s fall campaign? It features a bevy of young beauties suggestively stroking their clothing. One of the models was reportedly 13 years old when the ads were shot.

"The fashion industry shouldn't be using kids, tweens or teens in mature fashion campaigns because it sexualizes young girls in the name of art. Portraying young girls as fully sexualized adults obscures the fact that they are only 'posing' in adult roles,” says pop culture expert Jessica Wakeman. “This contributes to a society that's desensitized to the inappropriateness of making little girls into Lolitas for the enjoyment of adult men. I question why young girls are dressed up like adults in revealing outfits, hair and makeup."

BlackBerry messaging singled out in U.K. riots

Social media have been hailed as a tool of anti-authorian protesters in Iran, the Middle East and elsewhere. But in the current British riots they have taken on a darker tone. Reports indicate that Research in Motion's Blackberry instant messaging service has been used by looters and rioters to communicate and co-ordinate activities in London and other cities and at least and at least one politician wants a temporary ban on the BlackBerry Messenger system. David Lammy, a British parliamentarian, has called on RIM to suspend BlackBerry Messenger service because he feels it is helping rioters organize and creating difficulties for police because such messages are encrypted. RIM has said it will help authorities in Britain deal with rioters. The company did not respond to queries on whether it is open to temporarily shutting down its messaging service or helping police decipher messages.

Meanwhile, a group calling itself "Team Poison" hacked into RIM's official BlackBerry blog and posted a message threatening to divulge the addresses, names and phone numbers of RIM employees to the public and rioters if it gives British police access to things such as messages, user locations and customer information.

The Gazette locks out approximately 60 employees

The Gazette, Montreal's largest English-language daily newspaper, locked out approximately 60 mail room and plate-making employees Sunday evening after their latest contract offer was rejected by the union. The affected employees showed up for their shifts on Sunday only to be told they were not allowed inside. A small group of the employees gathered in front of the newspaper's NDG printing facility for a nighttime demonstration.

"These two groups have rejected this offer based on the fact of the hours of work, overtime level, and the personnel required to do the work," said Teamsters Union spokesperson Denis Fournier.

The Gazette issued a statement Monday afternoon stating that the labour dispute should not interrupt publishing the newspaper.

Classic "Why Rock the Boat?' available as e-book

"Why Rock the Boat?,” a charming spoof on the 1940s Montreal newspaper world, written by Bill Weintraub has been given new life as an e-book on Bev Editions and can be downloaded on Kobo, Kindle, Apple and Smashwords for under four dollars.

The book, first published in the 1960s, was made into a feature film by the National Film Board

and was the source of much amusement among media folk of the era as well as the general public. The hero is Harry Barnes, who joins the Montreal Daily Witness, “Canada’s most reactionary newspaper,” that closely resembles the Montreal Gazette of the Maurice Duplessis period.

Here is a link. A sample is available.

http://beveditions.com/?page_id=190

Star sports writer Neil MacCarl dies at 83

It was said Blue Jays spring training didn't officially get under way in Dunedin until Neil MacCarl showed up. By the time the Jays arrived as an expansion team in 1977, the Star journalist had plenty of experience in baseball, reporting on the World Series since the 1950s and covering the old Toronto Maple Leafs of the International League. MacCarl passed away Friday of pneumonia. He was 83.

MacCarl followed the Toronto Blue Jays' fortunes from the very start, beginning with the American League expansion draft at the Plaza Hotel in New York on Nov. 5, 1976.

He crowned his sportswriting career by covering the Jays' 1992 World Series championship against the Atlanta Braves.It was the capper to a 43-year career at the Star that began in March, 1949, after graduating from journalism at the University of Western Ontario and a short stint reporting for the London Free Press.