Adam makes the cover of 'Entertainment Weekly'

Entertainment Weekly is no stranger to featuring Idol-related content on its cover, even in the middle of a season when a few finalists are still in the running for the title. This year, however, the publication has opted to feature just one of the three remaining contestants on its issue due out next week, and it's not hard to guess which one was granted with the honor.

But as many members of other fan bases run around complaining of favoritism by the producers for allowing Adam to get the cover space all to himself, it is important to recognize who is really in charge here.

EW is its own private entity. Therefore, it is the only determiner of what can be placed on its cover, not the Idol producers, not Paula, not Ryan, not the finalists themselves, etc. As long as the image used is available for the press to use and no copyright restrictions are violated, all in the game of cover stories is fair.

In this situation, the only thing that could have prevented this from happening would be if there was something in the Idol contract that prohibits the use of an image of one of its subjects for the purpose of selling a product, be it posters, CDs, advertising or magazine copies. Unless it comes out that this goes against the contract, there's no foul play here.

However, this does not mean that Idol and its producers did not receive forewarning that the story would be running, even though there are no quotes from Adam nor are there any components to the article that would require necessary approval from the producers. Considering the amount of gabbing that goes on out in Hollywood, it would be surprising if word of the feature story did not make its way backstage.

But regardless, fans can talk about it being unfair all they want, but unless evidence comes out that implicates Idol or any of its entities as being directly involved in the story, there really is nothing wrong with it.