If a picture's worth a 1,000 words, what's the exchange rate on the internet?

I remember reading the day after the presidential election, how many people were waiting in line to get copies of newspapers on 11/5/08. The New York Times reported having to print 275,000 extra copies to meet demand.
At that time, I remember thinking, "oh - that is so old school." "Why would you need newspapers when you have everything on the internet?" You know, I consider myself quite "bloggy."

Last week when reading through the latest copy of Vanity Fair (the actual magazine - not their website) - I saw a photo which made me rethink my judgment described above. The feature story focused on President Obama and the beginning of the "Obama Era" (see cover above). In addition to photos of President Obama and his family, were other Annie Leibovitz shots of Obama's current (and soon to be in place) cabinet members. Who was in one of the photos? No - not Miley Cyrus - but non other than Tom Daschle. Here is the photo and Daschle's comment below:

“This is our opportunity to change the health-care system in this country for the first time in a comprehensive way. Expectations are very high. We are ready to go.” —Tom Daschle

Of course, Daschle as Secretary of Health and Human Services would never come to fruition, and Daschle ended up withdrawing his name as a possible because of tax evasion issues. It was then that I thought - I bet if Vanity Fair were strictly an on-line publication, that this photo would have been pulled; but, with print, it's already out there. Once it is out there, it can't be taken back. Sure, someone can always have a screen shot of an old website item/photo - but that is not as likely as a person having a back copy of a magazine or newspaper. So - real, hand-dirtying, often hard-to-fold publications can definitely capture our triumphs - but - and I guess this is a good thing - they can also capture our failures, mistakes, and "never really happened."

I just want to end with a totally superfluous reference. The term, "it's already out there" always reminds me of "When Harry Met Sally." Here is a snippet of the scene that the line is from. Enjoy: