NY Times photographer: "Don't trust anything you see on TV"

Media Research Center's Cyberalert ^ | November 6, 2001 | Brent Baker

[MarkWar]

>Personally I think both of you are a little bit paranoid. ... After all, he's "just" a photographer and won't be taken seriously by many people and his opinion won't be heard by many.

[smiles] "...a little bit paranoid" is a very polite way to describe me. For the most part, I'm a tin foil wacko. But, you know, life is a stew. Crazy people like me balance out the conservative dullards and, possibly, somewhere in between the lurkers who just sit back and laugh at everybody can synthesize something resembling truth...

There are two things I keep in mind about the media: 1) It is layered and selective. The opinion of _anyone_ doesn't just "appear" somewhere. Some editor or producer (of some kind) solicits the opinion and then makes it available in a controlled context. THEN, usually, some other editor or producer (of some kind) selects _that_ and calls attention to it somehow by making it available somewhere else... Usually the "mass market" only sees things after they've been selected through two or three stages like this. It's not random, accidental or emergent at all.

2) The media is built around SPIN -- I believe the phrase was first popularized in the book "The Aquarian Conspiracy" to refer to a kind of social movement that would make the best of all worlds available to its activists. SPIN is generally accepted -- by tin foil types -- to be an acronym for S-egemented P-olycentric I-ntegrated N-etwork. That is, it refers to a group of people who are scattered about and self-organized but united in principle and communicating with each other using various means. This allows for concerted, effective action, but disguises unity of the effort.

(One humorous incident occurred when a professor from Temple University, a Ph.D, wrote a book on UFOs. Among the reviews that attacked the book was a long review in an audiophile magazine specializing in high-end music systems. The author said he expected to get strange reviews, but he never expected hi-fi people to take a stand on UFOs...)

If you look at a rainbow, each individual drop of water is just a drop of water. It's only when you step back and look at the really big picture that you see the pattern of colors. I think the media is something similar. Each individual item is just a media item. It's when you step back and look for bigger patterns that you see the interesting "shapes" and "colors."

But I'm the first person to be upfront about my tin foil leanings.

Mark W.

[Richard Kimball]

Just in case anyone's interested, I sent an email to the web site where the story was posted, and got this reply.

I forwarded your email to Vince. He is doing well as I saw him last week at Yankee Stadium at Game 4 of the Series.

Thanks for taking the time to read Sports Shooter....

Check out Vince’s website: http://www.vincentlaforet.com/

Brad Mangin

I just read the article by Vincent Laforet, "You're a Journalist, Aren't You?" on your web site. His photography was excellent, and I truly admire his courage in going to such a hostile environment. Since there was no way to contact him directly, if possible, would you please forward this email to him, to let him know that many of us in the US do appreciate when a journalist has the guts to go the distance, and report what he sees, not what is officially approved by the powers that be. I've done some photojournalism in Haiti, and I know how scary a third world country can be, and how a clean pair of socks can seem like heaven. Tell him God Bless, he'll be in our prayers, and return safely.

[truthandlife]

BUMP