Posted on 09/27/2005 4:05:54 PM PDT by Brian Mosely
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.
Seen any of 'em in the MSM reports? I didn't think so...
"Such tactics -- in the no-man's-land between ethical and unethical -- are commonplace in the media, and have been for decades."
I lived in Northern Ireland '78 - '81. I was there during the hunger strikes by prisoners in 'H-Block' in the 'Maze'. There were riots in Belfast, and an American TV crew was seen paying young boys to throw Molotov Cocktails at police vehicles in order to create some 'exciting' TV coverage. Without that, the scene was not worth a TV crew's presence.
If you here from Gregory Borse, Editor in Chief of ChronWatch.com in San Francisco, that is on my recommendation. Your photo essay exposing the reality of the featured photo in the Chronicle is nothing short of brilliant.
I've written for that website for more than two years. (It is one of the sites searched by Google News.) Greg is its new Editor. I recommended highly that he contact you and ask permission to publish your photo essay, there.
Congressman Billybob
Latest column: "The 'Hard Bigotry' of Incompetence at the NY Times"
Wow..........if your party can't rely on truth it can't rely on truthful people.
Excellent. This is a textbook study in media manipulation.
Outstanding! I have been teling my grandkids about how camera angles can be 'worked' to give false impressions, but now I can really show them! Thank You!
All I can say is "wow!"
This is a great post. an all-timer.
Bumped and bookmarked.
Bravo, bravo, bravo.
Step by step.
You must get this to other media. (Other media that cares, that is.)
Every time these dinosaurs of the dying, socialist, "mainstream" newsrooms get nailed in yet another lie by the new media (talk radio, the internet, 24-hour cable news), it sends a shiver down my spine - - HOW MANY TIMES over the decades did the previously unchecked liberal newspapers (The New York Times, et al) and networks (ABC, CBS, NBC) get away with their forgeries, fraudulent reports, and malicious propaganda???
Bookmarking an EXCELLENT post.
Thank you, Brian.
I'll drink to tht...well said.
Always funny ( thanks to LLL freaks) and eye-opening.
BRAVO !
Great work.
Great job, as always, Brian.
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Send it to Rush.
He has been featuring items such as this recently.
Fine work.
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