Anatomy of a Photograph (more media bias and omission)

Zombie Time ^ | 9/27/05

[Brian Mosely]

Anatomy of a Photograph

An analysis of a single seemingly innocuous photograph, and the pervasive media bias it reveals.

My photo essay of the anti-war protest in San Francisco on September 24, 2005 was not the only report done about the event. A few other outlets ran their own coverage. But the one photo from the rally that was seen by the most people was this:


Why? Because the San Francisco Chronicle, which had the only mainstream media coverage of the rally, published this photograph on its front page as a teaser for their article about the event.

Now, let's take a closer look at this image.


By chance, I took a photo of the same girl just a few moments later. Looks practically identical, doesn't it?

But you might notice that my picture is lower resolution. That's because it's a zoomed-in portion of a much larger photograph. I cropped off the other parts of the picture to get a close-up of the girl.

But what would happen if I hadn't cropped off so much? Let's take a step backward and reveal what the San Francisco Chronicle didn't want you to see.

Here's the same photo without as much cropping, revealing more of the context. You can see that the girl's protest contingent also sported Palestinian flags and obscene placards.

Now let's take another step back.



Here's my full original photo, uncropped. Now we can see that the girl is just one of several teenagers, all wearing terrorist-style bandannas covering their faces.

But, as you'll notice, the bandannas are all printed with the same design. Was this a grassroots protest statement the teenagers had come up with all by themselves?

To find out, let's take a look at another photo in the series, taken at the same time:



Oops -- it looks like they're actually being stage-managed by an adult, who is giving them directions and guiding them toward the front of the march. But who is she?

The last picture in the series reveals all.



It turns out that the woman giving directions belongs to one of the Communist groups organizing the rally -- if her t-shirt is to be believed, since it depicts

the flag of Communist Vietnam, which has been frequently displayed by such groups at protest rallies in the U.S. for decades.


The San Francisco Chronicle featured the original photograph on its front page in order to convey a positive message about the rally -- perhaps that even politically aware teenagers were inspired to show up and rally for peace, sporting the message, "People of Color say 'No to War!'" And that served the Chronicle's agenda.

But this simple analysis reveals the very subtle but insidious type of bias that occurs in the media all the time. The Chronicle did not print an inaccuracy, nor did it doctor a photograph to misrepresent the facts. Instead, the Chronicle committed the sin of omission: it told you the truth, but it didn't tell you the whole truth.

Because the whole truth -- that the girl was part of a group of naive teenagers recruited by Communist activists to wear terrorist-style bandannas and carry Palestinian flags and obscene placards -- is disturbing, and doesn't conform to the narrative that the Chronicle is trying to promote. By presenting the photo out of context, and only showing the one image that suits its purpose, the Chronicle is intentionally manipulating the reader's impression of the rally, and the rally's intent.

Such tactics -- in the no-man's-land between ethical and unethical -- are commonplace in the media, and have been for decades. It is only now, with the advent of citizen journalism, that we can at last begin to see the whole story and realize that the public has been manipulated like this all along.

[Cindy_Cin]

great idea!!
This is definitely worthy of Drudge~! The so called "American" media scare the hell outta me!

[Attention Surplus Disorder]

That's funny as hell!

Note to self....decide on slogan BEFORE selecting font...

[EDINVA]

Brilliant work, and wonderfully laid out, step by step. It reminds me of the '92 presidential election, they would show pics of 41 addressing what seemed a small crowd thanks to their judicious (or injudicious) editing, and then photos of Clinton before mass, adoring crowds. Media just sux. Big Time.

[goldstategop]

Just like with the picture of Jihad Cindy and Fat Al in Camp Casey and the other day with the Grim Reaper - the MSM prints cropped pictures to make it look like these people are riding a tidal wave of support. Look at the original shots and they tell a very different story. But the MSM doesn't want its audience to be confused by the real picture, now do they? Its like an alternative universe in LibLand - all fake and staged.

(Denny Crane: "Sometimes you can only look for answers from God and failing that... and Fox News".)

[atomic conspiracy]

LGF and Free Republic.
The Rather-smashing allied juggernaut rolls again.
Die, MSM, die!

[Godzilla]

A 4-year old can print better than that!

[I_like_good_things_too]

Excellent, bump!

[GoLightly]

Eye opening series. Hats off to LGF's Zombie for capturing it all.

[AFreeBird]

EXCELLENT WORK!

Picture can, and sometimes do, speak a thousand words, but pictures in context speak 10,000 words.

Good job!

[Windcatcher]

Makes me think there needs to be a Media Bias Mega Ping for things like this. People need to know.

[cmsgop]

WOW DUDE!

[diamond6]

Oh... sorry.

My mistake.

[Godebert]

You rule! The MSM drools.

[mtbopfuyn]

Bravo! Great to have such proof of what we've known all along.

Such a lovely grasp of the English language those teens, or was it their leaders, have.

[null and void]

Bump

[kstewskis]

Wow.

Get a load of this.

[cwb]

Excellent photo essay. By the way, does anyone have the photo at Camp Casey of all the reporters gathered around Sheehan. I'd like to send this thread to a couple friends and that Pix would also make a great addition. Thanks

[narby]

Awesome work.

Pajamas media in fine form.

[petercooper]

bttt

[Interesting Times]

Classic Pajamadeen work. Kudos...