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.
IMHO you did one hell of a great job with this... Brian, if you have a ping list, please add me. Also, what about a "Bias" thread every day. We can all add our oun examples...
wow, I am impressed with the excellent presentation of the facts..
Good job, Brian. The press is great for taking quotes out of context to support their agenda. THey also do this with images through judicious use of cropping. Who knows what other darkroom tricks are used to convey the desired message...
Photo Bump!
ping - a must read
Was this cropped photo comparison of yours the same one Rush Limbaugh mentioned today as part of a larger discussion about the media and the protest coverage?
Impressive analysis of our propaganda-mongering media. If they were the least bit honest, they'd use that Communist star as their logo.
MSM is dying but not willingly or quick enough.
Just want to point out again; I AM NOT the author of this piece, please give credit to Zombie! Thanks.
Thanks brian, and especially to Zombie.
The presentation was top notch. Even I, a died in the wool skeptic of MSM, was startled when I scrolled down and saw the yellow star.
Just imagine the world w/o the internet. Scary.
Thanks for the ping.
Did you see this?
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/1492524/posts?page=17
Gary Handschumacher was waiting for police to arrest him yesterday afternoon as he joined Cindy Sheehan...
says it was an honor to be arrested ...
I don't think the shift of the knot means much. It could have happened at any time. Ever wear a scarf tied on your head? I have. They slip a lot. You tighten it and it slips again.
Thanks for the ping!
I've wondered about those same things myself, we have a anti-American insurgency in this country and I suspect these groups will have some sort of tie-ins to communist/Islamist/dictatorships across the world.
Can anyone tell me exactly what these young women are trying to communicate?
Outstanding thread... thank you. I'll ping my biggest list here in a couple of minutes.
Please FReepmail me if you want on or off my ‘miscellaneous’ ping list.
Excellent photo essay and presentation of facts here. Don't miss this one...
Thanks so much for the ping. Outstanding photo essay and presentation of facts.
Dittos to that...
See photo in #35. Nice signage work... BWAHAHAHA! ;-D
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