Also, the comparison to the halachos of women appearing in public is inapt.
Regarding appearing in public, there is a balance because the women themselves also have an interest in being able to live normal lives.
But Angela Merkel has no interest in being able to appear in a chareidi newspaper–it is purely a matter of the editor’s and the readership’s interests. If the editors decided that they had some interest in not putting her picture in, why do you care to second and third guess them?
Why do you care so much if Angela Merkel’s picture was or wasn’t in a newspaper?