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April 14, 2011

Scott Walker: The Factory Photo-Op

Following Karl Rove’s tactical prescription(don’t run from a problem, attack it head on), here’s the photo of Scott Walker addressing factory workers that got picked up by the AP, and which also ran in yesterday’s NYT update article.  Great visual, right? Scott’s not afraid to step onto the factory floor in the midst of his anti-union campaign. And, it sure looks like he got a respectful reception.

The thing most visual news consumers don’t get to see, however, is the larger photo edit from the hometown news site that covered the story.  You can check out the full slideshow here, but I thought I’d just drop a few more photos below.

For example, there is this one showing the very small gathering, consisting of what the caption/s identify as foundry employees, civic officials and also some family members of the President of Manitowoc Grey Iron Foundry.

This photo shows how much the event was designed as a photo op, the cameras set up to to generate that optimal newswire photo above, situating the factory in the background paired with the back of the heads of the audience (of undetermined size).

This photo show the Governor, upon the conclusion of the presentation/photo op and back to reality, having to confront the media and take some hard questions.

This photo shows a couple (and I mean, a couple) of pro-Walker demonstrators outside.

The last picture, compared to this one, shows a little bit larger Manitowoc pro- union protester across the street.

All together, thought I’d pull back the lens on one particular photo op mindful of what stays local and what key image or two is framed for the nation.

from: Gov. Scott Walker pushes job creation in Northeastern Wisconsin.

(photos: Sue Pischke/Herald Times Reporter News, Manitowoc Wisconsin)

  • Enoch Root

    “What if they throw a pie at me?”

    “You can wear protective glasses. They have those here.”

    “But if I’m the only one wearing them, I’ll look out of place.”

    “You are out of place. But we’ll just get everyone to wear them. It’s a factory, isn’t it?”

    “Warehouse.”

    “OK, warehouse, factory, same thing. We’ll make everyone wear eye protection.”

    • psychohistorian

      They are required in the warehouses I work in. That said, it says nothing of the relative politics of money played with the affectation of safety.

      What I saw in the picture was most people had their arms crossed or were otherwise (to me) signaling that they were not buying the story but were forced to be there and be nice.

  • Anonymous

    Yeah, Enoch. I too was struck by the goggles.

  • ruthyG

    Yup, management had their goggles on too. Must have been a lot of stuff flying around, like BS maybe..