Maclean’s magazine has been reprimanded by the Quebec Press Council for a controversial cover last year that featured beloved Bonhomme, the Carnaval snowman.

http://www.ctv.ca/CTVNews/Canada/20110413/macleans-cover-controversy-110413/

As discussed in my blog post last week, magazines like Maclean’s and Toronto Life appear to be held to a higher, or shall we say different standard by the journalistic community, than a highly profitable and well-read alternative publication like NOW.

Compare and contrast the Maclean’s cover to the NOW cover:

One cover features a human being, the other a cartoon.

One cover suggests an “evil plot”, the other points to history.

One is formally slapped, the other laughs all the way to the bank to cash checks from sex-trade ads.

Maclean’s offered an apology, while NOW offered no apology and further exploited the controversey on its web site.