Flash bulbs and flak jackets

In the continuing media coverage of Britney Spears self-destructing, the latest bulletin has it that she accidentally ran over a paparazzo's foot while exiting a Beverly Hills parking garage.

What caught my eye in the oh-so-glib Reuters report was this paragraph:

Spears was exiting a Beverly Hills parking garage in her white Mercedes convertible as flash bulbs popped. Video footage showed an unidentified photographer in a flak jacket falling to the ground as the car apparently rolled over his foot but he quickly got up.

Flash bulbs? Nobody uses flash bulbs anymore, especially not the paparazzi who need fast-cycling electronic flash to get the money shots.

And in the next sentence, we learn the guy was wearing a flak jacket. A flak jacket, for the benefit of Reuters writers and editors, is body armor - originally designed in World War II to protect U.S. aircrews from anti-aircraft (called flak in German) shrapnel. This is not an item found in a paparazzo's wardrobe.

Viewing the video of the incident on hollywood.tv, I see the photographer was actually wearing an Army surplus camo field jacket.

Sorta calls into question all of the other descriptive narrative, doesn't it?

Here is a flak jacket (actually a vest):

And a camo field jacket:

You are now smarter than the Reuters entertainment writer. But then you probably were before you read this.