I don't know if it was brilliantly played by The O or by WW. WW had to know The O wouldn't give them a comment if they were just publishing a story. So they orchestrated the photo contest to bring the issue to light before the public knew about it, and that pretty much guaranteed some sort of internal communication would happen that could be leaked. That way, WW softened the blow by giving The O a litle bit of time, and they got a non-comment comment out of them.
I don't know if it was brilliantly played by The O or by WW. WW had to know The O wouldn't give them a comment if they were just publishing a story. So they orchestrated the photo contest to bring the issue to light before the public knew about it, and that pretty much guaranteed some sort of internal communication would happen that could be leaked. That way, WW softened the blow by giving The O a litle bit of time, and they got a non-comment comment out of them.