On The Sidelines of the Sidelines
In the face of the horrendous tragedy in New Orleans, the news images carry with them a countless number of fateful themes. Beginning with the weekend evacuation, one unstated subtext running through much of the reporting involved the disparate prospects between rich and poor. In many accounts, for example,...
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Wingnut Watch: Cindy the Political Football
I posted an analysis two weeks ago at The Agonist anticipating how the right-wing would attack Cindy Sheehan as a media phenomenon. I’m not sure why they took so long, but the offensive is finally in full swing. Little Green Footballs (via nationaljournal.com) juxtaposed two images on Sunday showing...
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Bush In Crawford: Calling It Curtains
Often, a news image will lead the wire because it captures some underlying truth about the political moment at hand. This shot is incredibly robust in terms of symbolism. The photo — from yesterday — shows George Bush in full “damage control” mode entering a press briefing to reframe...
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Iraq: The Game
If you missed it, this cover story in the NYT Mag a week ago was surprisingly informative for coverage of America’s war in Iraq. It outlines in disturbing detail how soldiers of fortune — oh sorry, I mean "private military companies" — oops, I meant "private security companies" or...
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Signature Issue
(click on image for larger version) In the vacuum surrounding John Roberts, BAGreader Carolly called out this image to me and added comments. (The photo depicts a reporter’s hand examining written samples of John Roberts’ work as an attorney in the Reagan Administration.) Rich, warm, antique coloring… reassuring? But...
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U Turn
At first I thought they looked Amish. As I get over my moratorium on writing about Israel, I thought it would be interesting to get your thoughts on this Economist cover. This edition was actually published in advance of the settlement evacuations — so it preceded all the drama-...
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Your Turn: Facing Fallujah
Is this the new face of occupation? After seeing one picture like this, I kept finding more and more variations of it. Most of these shots are coming from Fallujah, where the U.S. military is using retina scan technology to try and keep this ghost-city in lock-down. Because they...
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War Without Edit
If you’re faint of heart, I don’t recommend these images to you. But I commend Salon for running this article, "The Unseen War," along with the devastating photo gallery. As someone who is regularly featuring war images, I’m continuously uneasy that I’m mostly showing the "more consumable" content. Am...
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New Head Of The Vatican
BAGreader Carolly contributed these comments regarding World Youth Day: A few days back, we discussed the sidewalk drawings to memorialize Hiroshima/Nagasaki, and there was an image of someone walking across the middle, uncaring. Here is another top-down view of a scene with interesting contrasts: When I first saw the...
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No Fear From The Fuelhardy
Give the NYT Mag a free car wash for trying. Today’s lead article (The Breaking Point – link) discusses various factors and scenarios that could lead to a dramatic oil shortfall. Following the theme, the cover illustration asks the reader to imagine the sudden possibility of not enough oil...
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Girls of the Constitution
Given that the deadline for a new Iraqi constitution expired almost a week ago, I was again looking at posters showing support for the document. What I found — which I didn’t notice before — is that most of the images on the newswires feature young women or girls. ...
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When George Met Cindy
The wingnuts are convinced Cindy Sheehan would be out-of-business if they could only get their hands on the full-sized versions of these photos. Apparently, they were taken during Bush and Cindy’s original meeting, including the one showing Bush giving Cindy a peck. (Here’s a blown-up view of the deed-in-question...
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The Twist in Egypt
If certain news images appear to double as editorials, the typical example usually manages to include just enough ambiguity to lay claim to innocence. This shot seems right on that line. Because I got such a late jump on the attenuated Iranian campaign, I thought I’d try and get...
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The Same Boat
(Note: This entry was mostly re-written about 8 hours after it was posted. I apologize to readers who left comments referring to either my previous reflections, or to images that were replaced.) For all of you who have written me about Gaza, I have an admission to make. Since...
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Dead Men Are People Too
I thought the “big two” news mag covers this week reached a new level of debasement (or ‘da basement?). One featured a well known talking head (and a brilliant example of necro-porn considering he is practically still warm). The other also opted for the personality route, and astonishingly managed...
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Typical Ups And Downs In Bush World
When researchers go back and analyze journalistic trends in the late ’90’s and early 00’s, hopefully they will take note of a key satirical weapon that was made to disappear. Newspapers and websites run political cartoons, and they run political illustrations, but they hardly ever run editorial illustrations anymore. ...
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Held At Pen Point
As the deadline for a new Iraqi constitution expires today, I was looking at posters showing support for the effort. Although reading in to a picture is always a subjective matter, my first glance at this image left me somewhat startled. Before I realized I was looking at a...
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Finding The Love In Crawford
How is it that one person can virtually starve the camera while another can practically nurture it? If you read the Drudge Report, you’ll notice the site is scrupulously partisan in its selection of photos. (See my post at The Agonist last Friday regarding Drudge Report’s Cindy Sheehan...
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