Here’s a fascinating video in which Italian photographer Ruben Salvadori demonstrates how dishonest many conflict photographs are. Salvadori spent a significant amount of time in East Jerusalem, studying the role photojournalists play in what the world sees. By turning his camera on the photographers themselves, he shows how photojournalists often influence the events they’re supposed to document objectively, and how photographers are often pushed to seek and create drama even in situations that lack it.
I’m SHOCKED, really I am.
Look closely and further down the same street is a Tea Party demonstration in Washington!
Looks more like an OWS protest
And look to the left, you’ll see a failing “protest” by “occupy”…
“Journalists” unfortunately have willing talent and support of spin doctor leaders for this. Worst examples for me are true images with plausible misinformation as those are easy to buy by the viewer and hard to dislodge from collective consciousness. Worst example for me was quite famous TIME image of “Bosnian behind wires in new age concentration camp run by Serbs” reminiscent of WWII slaughter. By interpretations of many that image and its application was the pivot point for general opinion in the West about war in Bosnia.
Now, just imagine if image AND the true situation were reported in true journalistic effort (only couple of Austrian and German newspapers issued retraction years later)… Man in the image is still alive and living in Austria. Both his story and official documentation from the period states the same: he is Serbian. He and others were caught pillaging Muslim houses from which occupants fled in Serbian controlled area, arrested and detained in make-shift prison for Serbian criminals by local Serbian authorities trying for a law and order in the chaos… Reality not supporting preferred spin on Bosnian war, so real picture and deeply resonating falsehood -> desired effect.
Disclaimer: have lost two close relatives in Bosnian city of Tuzla during times in question, last known to be rounded with other remaining Serbs there and brought to soccer stadium there, never to be seen again (make your own conclusions). Last message from them – they did not want to flee Tuzla, those were their friends and nothing will happen to them… Also lost 16 close relatives in villages surrounding infamous Srebrenica. Few years before well know massacre in the same area, day after Germany recognized Bosnia as independent country. Killed and villages burned in celebration of that event, together with several thousand other Serbian villagers in the area…
Final disclaimer showing the real story that real journalists should have brought out of those horrific wars: family of 5 of our relatives from a village further from Srebrenica were saved from that slaughter by local Muslims not willing to participate in mass murder, rushing ahead and warning the few that they could. Some of them tragically suffering in reversed massacres to come.
Who pays for these distorted photos and videos?
Why, the biased liberal media, of course.
Because, of course, these images never end up in the unbiased conservative media. Never happens.
Scroll down for a short list of biased liberal media photo manipulations
http://goo.gl/95QEJ
What a bullshit reply and link to some wacky web site. Just my opinion. and you know what they say, right.
Michelle Malkin? Really?
Your mental state is noted.
Baggins from Bywater go have a pint in the Shire.
How do you note a state of mind from a comment sent through all those tubes?
It’s Friday, yea.
One must be nearly insane to read that woman. She’s an articulate version of (Palin+Bachmann)xBeck.
I had some nice stout at a local h, brewery. Their pumpkin and peanut butter (?) stouts were awful. But the oatmeal was fine.
Ha…we have drag-n-drop editing now. Very nice!
Photographers have to say something these days.
Decades ago a lady named Barbara Lee Diamondstein had a television program in which she interviewed photographers. She liked to know what each photo meant artistically.
One show featured a photog for Life magazine. I don’t remember his name but he and Barbara Lee might as well have been from different planets.
They showed a picture the man had taken of a tornado about to hit hit a farm in the mid-west.
Barbara Lee asks “What were you trying to say in this photo?”
Photog replies after a second or two “There was a tornado about to hit a farm.”
She wasn’t familiar with the “Go to scene, take picture, send to editor, find bar” school of photography. A high percentage of the show was the two of them just looking at each other.
Nothing surprising here. Lance Bennett wrote a book a while back that covered this very thing called “News: The Politics of Illusion”
http://tinyurl.com/6xxbdl4
It’s an interesting dilemma. Photographers are pressured to come back with images of these so called “out of control” situations. If they don’t, the next guy will and they will be out of a job. Media execs are to blame. All they want to do is to perpetuate doom and gloom stories to push links and papers. It’s unfortunate that they’ve turned this sacred craft into the paparazzi of conflict.
The corruption of news is the result of news attempting to be profitable. It can’t be profitable and fair in the long-term, for the reasons you noted.
Suppose they gave a war and no reporters came?
It has to have any of the following (the more the better)
CHAOS, CONFLICT, CONTROVERSY, CRISIS!!!
Throw in some blood, bodies, and blonds
And you will have something!!!!
Really watch for it in all of the media that is pitched to you!
(even this blog sometimes – except for John’s quirky style of humor! Which we enjoy immensely! )
The Palestinians are angry, rightfully so about their passage being blocked by SOLDIERS. So once a week the youth go and try to pass and are pushed back by the SOLDIERS. It’s sort of a game of cat and mouse.
The youth then taunt and chide the SOLDIERS who chase them so the kids trow stones at the SOLDIERS. This has been going on for years and garnered some publicty recently. That is why you see the “journalists” interest of late. More like a tourist site for anyone with a camera. This has been a weekly occurance for some time by the Palestianians who are hemmed in by Israli Soldiers.
I don’t think anyone questions the SOLDIERS vs. the youth. It’s how the photojournalists, who are supposed to be objective and invisible, are clearly directing and manipulating the story within their photographs. This is no longer documenting events but fabricating them.
They may be “fabricating” images but the drawn lines are real. Don’t dare come up here this land is off limits to Palestinians. We here in the “free world” don’t have armed soldiers guarding a street or field from passage. So this is not fake but denial on a global scale. I’m sure some photographers may during idle time direct so they can get an action shot then go back to their hotel.
The Israeli soldiers are accustomed to the outbursts by the youngsters and generally put up with some aggressive behavior until a tear gas canister puts the kids in their place.
All this makes me admire the protesters who live in societies that don’t permit journalists or photogs to report on riots – Iran, Syria, etc.
*They* are the real deal…
That’s why I don’t watch tv news. I make tv news five nights a week.
“alright, que running dog…… pan to screaming woman…. ACTION!” What was the name of that movie… “Wag the Dog”?