This is a social media post from VTDigger spotlighting the top story in Friday’s “Final Reading,” about Vermont politicians taking a stand against a U.S. House-passed voter ID bill that would make it harder, especially for women, to register to vote. Great, fine, a nice little space-filler on Friday afternoon.

The photo features Democratic Secretary of State Sarah Copeland Hanzas and Republican Gov. Phil Scott. (The photo also sits just below the headline of “Final Reading” itself.) Here’s the problem: Copeland Hanzas is quoted in the article, but Scott does not appear. At all. No quote, not even a passing mention. In fact, not a single Republican is quoted or mentioned, while Democratic U.S. Rep. Becca Balint is quoted and Democratic Attorney General Charity Clark is mentioned.

But you combine the photo with the headline’s reference to “Vermont Leaders” panning the bill, and you come away with the distinct impression that Phil Scott is on board with this effort.

He is not. At least not publicly. But you wouldn’t realize that unless you read the article carefully and kept track of who is actually quoted.

Most people don’t even click the link, they only see the social media post. Of those who do click the link, relatively few pay close enough attention to notice the presence or absence of one “Vermont Leader.”

By using this photo, VTDigger did Phil Scott a big fat favor in terms of bolstering his “moderate” bona fides, a favor he did nothing to earn.

From my experience putting together print and/or “print” media, I know how this often works. Reporters are encouraged to provide a suitable image, which is more important in this age of social media than it used to be. Every story must include an image, preferably one that will catch the eye of someone scrolling social media. In the old days, most newspaper stories were nothing but words.

At times, the reporter might not have the opportunity to grab a good photo. In that case, an editor might be backfilling the image after the story is submitted (and often after business hours). They’ll go into the archives, find a relevant photo and slap it below the headline. I suspect that’s what happened in this case: an editor, trying to wrap up the work week as quickly as possible, looked into the archives, found this photo, and inserted it into the story without even thinking about the governor’s presence in the image.

It’s not the worst thing in the world. It’s not even in the top 10 of the worst things to happen this week. But it is a failure on Digger’s part to notice the little things. When you work in the media, “noticing the little things” is drummed into you as vital to the credibility of the enterprise. In this case, failing to notice one little thing gave the governor’s reputation an unmerited shine. I would expect — I would hope — that Digger will take note of this and swap in another photo. They must have dozens of Sarah Copeland Hanzases in their files.