2009/1/27 David Gerard dgerard@gmail.com:
2009/1/27 Philip Sandifer snowspinner@gmail.com:
As I said, I'm sure there is context - I would assume it was from the Taipei Wikimania, etc. And that it is cropped so that it looks more feminine than it probably actually did. Still, the BBC picked a photo where he appears to be wearing a dress. And this was not for lack of other options.
BBC journalists are actually very nice people, and (because they're not working for advertisers) do try very hard to do a good job. However, they've had so many ridiculous cutbacks that stuff is done very fast and semicompetently. This is why the writing on news.bbc.co.uk verges on the semiliterate these days. Thankfully they're willing to take corrections.
But I would suggest assuming good faith, i.e. it really was the first picture they found in the pile.
I think it's a good photo - having our founder wearing non-Western clothing shows how international we are.