Another popular cliche: dogs watching Lassie. "Does Kukla curl up by the fireplace like most dogs?" the paper said. "No. Kukla sits down with a good book and pipe [left]. Or watches TV during the Lassie show." I can't find any pictures of Kukla in the DOGS-SMOKING file - and yes, there is such a file. But I guarantee Kukla did not smoke. And I guarantee that no one believed he did. Nowadays, of course, you couldn't show a smoking dog; it would be a bad influence. Kukla would be shown crushing a can for recycling day, or some other socially useful function. The paper also has a DOGS-DRUNK file, but it's just a picture of a terrier passed out with his paws over his eyes. Smoking, drinking, watching TV - hell, that's the minimum requirement to be a voter nowadays.

There's some dispute over whether dogs actually see TV at all - some dogs seem to be attracted to the images on the tube, but they don't see them as a representation of the world. They're not wired that way. They certainly don't see dogs on TV as dogs - for one thing, TV dogs have no aroma. But when the Lassie show is a ratings hit, some bright photo editor thinks: hey, let's show a dog watching Lassie! But as you see below, this photo is an absolute lie. They cut out a picture of Lassie and pasted it over the tube.

Nowadays this is called "a photo illustration."

I can't show what's really underneath the picture without permanently ruining it, but it appears to be a shot from some police drama - it's a shot of a dead man's face, his skin pasty white, his unseeing eyes half open. Not a heart-warming photo; you'd have to caption it "Dogs Enjoy Seeing Human Oppressors Dead." And no one really wants to see that in their daily newspaper.