Dennis Dunleavy

In the juggernaut of public opinion: Candidates to the Media -- 'Keep your Distance'

Photo Credit: Carlos Barria/Reuters

Presidential hopeful Hillary Rodham at a campaign stop
in Iowa. Howard Kurtz of the Washington Post writes about
how candidates are keeping their distance from the media.

Media critic, Howard Kurtz, has an insightful piece from inside the machine today. Kurtz suggests that media following Hillary Clinton's campaign are kept at arm's length from the candidate. The Clinton campaign apparently fears being sidetracked from off the "daily sound byte" message or from doing a Howard Dean. What is clear, is that the political process as well as the media's role in it continues to disintegrate.  The cultural condition of spinning and spoon feeding pictures and words to Americans is alive and well on the campaign trail. Clinton has apparently mastered the great media brush-off.

Kurtz notes:

"Such is life spent trailing the Clinton juggernaut, where reporters can generally get close enough to watch but no further, as if separated from the candidate by an invisible sheet of glass."

“The dangers can’t be overstated”: Journalists in the cross-hairs

A recent survey by the Project for Excellence in Journalism highlights the challenges of covering the war in Iraq. In the study, reporters concluded that "even the basics of getting the story are remarkably difficult."

Over the past four years, journalists have been increasingly forced into perilous situations. Nearly 57 percent of respondents in the survey  report that Iraqi staff members working for them have either been killed or kidnapped in the past year. Many more Iraqi staff continue to be threatened. Even carrying a notebook in Iraq today can be a death sentence for Iraqis working for Western news operations. The survey shows that 87 percent of staff cannot identify themselves as working for news organizations.

Overall, journalists, according to the report, have a positive assessment of their coverage, but admit that they come up short when reporting on the lives of ordinary Iraqis.

What can Americans expect from news coverage of Iraq in such a climate of fear and violence?  Our perspective and perception of events in Iraq continues to be hindered  by an increasing lack of access to information. At best, news organizations continue to rely upon journalists embedded with U.S. and coalition forces for information -- not exactly the best environment for reporting.

Photo Digital Manipulation End of the Year Survey

Since August of 2006, I have been collecting responses from readers concerning attitudes toward photo digital manipulation.

In order to sample changing attitudes over time, I am relaunching the survey and will begin to compare results. Anyone can take the survey and all participation is voluntary, confidential, and anonymous. For instance, a respondent's IP address is not stored in the survey results, which protects the identity of the individual to some extent.

The intention of the survey is to understand the way people think about digital manipulation over time. In 2006, more than 735 people weighed in on the issue. One of the questions I would like to track is whether or not people can tell if a picture has been manipulated. Many people believed they could. Is that claim still true a year later? Let's find out.

Click Here to take survey

Picturing Resignation

Photo Credit: Lauren Victoria Burke/AP

There are poignant moments in the life of a politician which become iconic --  even if it is for a moment -- a moment before it fades from public consciousness.

Each day photojournalists seek out images of the powerful, and even the not so powerful -- images that tell stories beyond the typical sound byte and the banal rhetoric of politics.

Even though this image was made more than a month ago, it has been given legs again because of Lott's decision to resign his seat in the Senate before the end of the year.  Lott, the Republican Senate Minority Whip from Mississippi, is ending a 35-year-long career in Congress and plans to start a new career as a lobbyist.

The image was made by the Associated Press on Capitol Hill on Oct. 24, 2007, after the Senate confirmed Judge Leslie Southwick to the federal appeals court in Mississippi. The picture was also used by the Washington Post.

To believe in storytelling is to believe in journalism

Photo Credit: James Estrin/The New York Times

At a time when it has become extremely easy to climb on board the media-bashing express, there is still a lot of great journalism left in the world.

James Estrin's coverage of the life of Jeffrey Deskovic, a man vindicated by a DNA test in a rape case, epitomizes the importance of journalism in American society. Estrin's images are thoughtfully layered with bits of information or cues about a world Deskovic has stepped back into after 16 years in prison.

What makes Estrin's photography so powerful is the ability to capture, with great patience and detail, the moral and emotional complexities of one man's struggle to persevere despite the hardships he has endured. There are no camera gimmicks -- chopped up frames and off-kilter horizons -- in Estrin's work. There's no reason to employ anything less than straight up visual reporting -- the sort of work that takes a lot of time and understanding to complete. Estrin does not appear to try to make something more than what he sees as an eyewitness to the human condition. There is value to his work because it comes across as compelling and insightful.

In Estrin's frame we see Deskovic riding the subway, head down, fingers barely grasping the support above him. To the right, there are two couples -- one kissing, and the other, appearing to be looking down at Deskovic. What does such a scene signify? Are we to infer that the image represents or symbolizes,  in some important way, a lost soul trying to make sense out of a shattered existence?

We look toward the image as proof that what we hear and read or even see for yourselves is true. The signification of a human life, however, can rarely be captured in one frame. The frame is just one moment among countless moments. But nevertheless, there it is -- life --  1/60th of a second -- in a subway car -- in one of the biggest cities in the world. It is easy to underestimate the commitment journalists like Estrin engage in to share such stories with others.

You can read the NY Times story here.
An interactive feature on exonerated prisoners can also be found here.

 

In the line of fire: Military wants photojournalist to be tried in Iraq

For nearly 19 months, the U.S. military has held Bilal Hussein, right, an Iraqi Associated Press photographer, in detention for allededly taking part in insurgent activities, including making bombs.

Hussein, who was seized by the military in April of 2006, is now caught in a battle not only for his freedom, but for the rights of a free press. The government alleges that Hussein had links to terrorists and that an Iraqi court to decide his fate. AP, meanwhile, feels they have sufficient evidence to counter the allegations.

The ramifications of Hussein's trial will be far-reaching.  At issue here, beyond  the photographer's life and livelihood, is how the U.S. press has become so extraordinarily dependent upon native in-country staffers and stringers for its news. It's not clear how well Americans really understand how much of the news is actually produced by foreign journalists.  Typically, wire services, in places like Iraq, have to outsource their news gathering capabilities, especially photojournalism, to people with better command of the language and the culture. 

The at the core of this issue is one of trust and credibility. In August 2006, for instance, Reuters discovered that one of its stringers, Adnan Hajj, had manipulated images during the Israeli-Hezbollah conflict in Lebannon.  The Hajj incident has had the effect of placing doubt in the minds of an already skeptical public about the authenticity and credibility of the news we receive from overseas. Utlimately, it is hoped that justice and truth will prevail -- however, in times of war -- both of these ideals are at risk when power and politics are at stake.

What's in your wallet?

Always looking for ways to package the new with the old, there's company now offering a digital wallet -- and just in time for Christmas -- imagine that.

According to TheStreet, "Brookstone has introduced its Men's Digital Photo Wallet ($50) -- the high-tech way to keep your brood in your pocket." Now you can download family pictures into your wallet on a 1.4 sceen (tiny) -- that's of course if you don't already have pictures loaded onto every mobile device imaginable. 

Photo-Op: Bush and the Irony of a Can of Beans

Photo Credit: Jason Reed/Reuters

This picture reminds me of one of those famous credit card commercials:

The scene: A food bank in Anywhere, USA
Roll Camera: The President, with a sour expression, stands before the camera.
Voice Over: The melodious baritone voice of the announcer comes in.

• Oxxford hand-tailored suit: $2,000 - $14,000
• Haircut: $30 - $60
• Bush's Best Beans: $1.59
• Cost of the War in Iraq:  $200 million a day

The Irony of a Presidential Photo-Op: Priceless

Is the president really mugging for the camera with a can of beans? Could the visual metaphor be any more perfect at this time of year? 

As Americans prepare to gobble up more than 1.6 billion pounds of turkey, 1 billion pounds of pumpkin, and more than 800,000 tons of beans this Thanksgiving, the photo-op signifies what appears to be another surreal moment for the Bush presidency.

While, Bush symbolically pardoned the White House turkey this week while more than 35 million Americans, including 12.6 million children, will experience hunger. Further, more than 38 million Americans will be eligible to receive Food Stamps. In 2006, The U.S. Conference of Mayors reported that requests for emergency food assistance increase by 7 percent across the country.

There is a significant different between how images denote and connote meaning. As cultural theorist Stuart Hall suggests, pictures are encoded with symbolic meaning. But it is ultimately up to the viewer to "unpack" or decode what the symbols mean. Much of this decoding is determined by context, convention, as well as the disposition of the viewer. Ultimately, the ability to make sense of a picture becomes contingent upon how that picture resonates in every day life for the viewer.  For me, the expression "full of beans" comes to mind. Originally,  "full of beans" originally meant to be full of energy and high spirits, but over time the phrase has come to represent something more akin to someone who is being less than genuine or honest -- basically someone who is "full of it."

Ultimately, any analysis of this sort probably won't amount a "hill of beans."

Nevertheless, pictures should provoke thoughts, and in turn, hopefully, thoughts will lead to action.

 

When photojournalists turn to Art for Inspiration Some Cry Foul

Photo Credit: Elissa Eubanks, Atlanta Journal-Constituition

When photojournalist Elissa Eubanks' picture of Atlanta's Veterans Day parade ran on the front page, some readers were less than impressed with her attempt to turn a run-of-the-mill assignment into something a little different. Unfortunately, some folks didn't see the art in cutting Lt. Gen. Russel Honore, the parade's grand marshal, head in half. The effect did please Constitution-Journal editors, but some readers have expressed outraged -- claiming that the picture was demeaning and disrespectful.

Are photojournalists working too hard to make images more appealing and interesting?

Are photojournalists becoming overly focused on making "art" rather than practicing bread and butter visual reports of everyday events?

I am not suggesting a return to the days of the "shin-plaster" or the "grip and grin," but there is obviously a line between the science and art of doing visual journalism.

Eubank's picture raises issues about how the public perceives the role of journalists in covering civic events. Photographers appear to be making aesthetic choices that take them further away from the realm of journalism and more into the realm of art. Maybe it's not that big of deal. Photojournalism, as a form of artistic expression, is certainly better than it has ever been and there is some great work being done today. However, many readers don't want or even expect their news to be artsy. Readers want and expect their news to be delivered with without embellishment or panache -- that what journalism should be about. Unfortunately, in today's hyper-media world the pressure is on not only to inform but to also entertain.

When a news picture is treated as art in order to distinguish it from other media, the public may actually see the effort as a gimmick, or even worse, as a disingenuous attempt to sensationalize the news.

In fact, the framing technique used in Eubank's picture is a relatively recent addition to the photojournalist's bag of aesthetic techniques. A few decades ago, a photographer turning in such an image would be given a ton of grief over the approach. Just like shooting pictures at odd angles with slanting horizons, the technique of cutting into a subject's face has emerged as convention only since the 1980s, when news moved away from its antecedent "hard" format to one that is much softer.

The stylistic conventions applied to many news pictures today are infused with artistic sensibilities that were discouraged just a few decades ago. Today, photojournalism, as an art form, has evolved, even if readers don't always appreciate the difference.

This picture is a lie

A self-portrait made with an Epson flatbed scanner
invites an existentialist's claim -- pictures confound
our attempt to define meaning, identity, and reality.

We hold the likeness of self as irrepressible and undeniable.  We look for clues to reassure ourselves that what we see is actually who we are. We hunger for authenticity and self-actualizing records to make ourselves feel whole.

In the persistent visual clutter of our day to day universe we seek images that help us define meaning and rationalize our existence. But the conscious mind may be easily misled.  Pictures can indeed lie. Images inculcate us to expect a truth, at least some fragment of it. But what happens when we can no longer count on images as mediators of truth.

The poet Robert Bly wrote, "How much sadness we feel because we have given up expecting truth. Every moment of our lives we exchange comfort or discomfort for statements we know are lies, or mostly lies..."

Bly's idea suggests that we negotiate truths, half-truths and lies -- we settle for what we know as truth because we have little capacity to dispute it. I would extend this argument to images, especially news photographs. In this hyper-mediated world of visual, where pictures increasingly play a role in shaping public perception of the "real", we want to believe that what we are exposed to will be free from the ideological self-interests of those in positions of setting the agenda of public discourse.

As a culture, is there some underlying sense that we have really given up  expecting the truth from the things we see?

Drawing leads to suspension for first-grade student.

Photo Credit: Medford Mail Tribune

A  6-year-old boy in rural Southern Oregon has been suspended for making a drawing depicting what his teachers believe to depict violence.

The boy's paper is crumbled. The two stick figures wide-eyed. Now, the boy is home from school, and the father is furious.

The incident symbolizes an escalation in tension between what children are exposed to in the media and what children are taught at home and in school. In this case, the father of the first-grader said that the drawing was inspired by an episode of The Simpsons.

Some people believe the boy's suspension is an over-the-top, knee-jerk reaction to violence in our nation's schools. Other people see the school's action as justifiable. The boy is now labeled a menace in the school's fight to maintain a healthy and safe learning environment for all students. 

Media violence in society is pervasive. However, children do not always differentiate between such adult abstract concepts as fiction and reality, right and wrong, play and work. These ideas are never clearly defined until they are learned. The line between conformity and deviance is changing in an age where violence is the norm on-screen.

We trust and hope that children learn to distinguish the constructs what our society deems as normal through learning -- at home and in the classroom.  However, when the things children see on television are recreated in a classroom drawing, it reflects a deeper, more disturbing cultural pathology. 

Whatever the case, the message is clear -- even first-graders can be terrorists.
 

Conspicuous spectacles

Photo credit: AP/Joel Page, Cheryl Senter

It's very interesting to follow the course of the presidential campaign through the pictures photojournalists submit for publication. The images above show Hillary Rodham-Clinton, D-NY, in various states of fighting off the symptoms of a cold. The question to ask is why are these images important in reporting the news. Does a candidate wiping her nose constitute news or might it be considered by some viewers as offensive or even tasteless? More importantly are the photographs made of other candidates equally as revealing -- or are we to assume that this sort of reportage is just another journalistic cheap shot?

We know that pictures help to construct our reality and shape our perception of individuals.Therefore, the notion of a conspicuous spectacle relates well to torrent of visual messages we receive daily about the candidates and their lives on the campaign trail.

Are we to assume that images of candidate Clinton, blowing her nose or holding back a cough, help to frame the individual as more human and vulnerable? Could we interpret these pictures on a deeper level -- one suggesting that she may not even be fit to be president? 

These images are "fish in the barrel" pictures in that the photographer is very much limited by access to capturing truly intimate moments. In a way, these are attempts by the photographer to either "make something out of nothing" or to put forth an honest effort showing the candidate at their most vulnerable.

All images are persuasive determinants  in constructing what may  eventually become normalized or accepted as reality. Can we, in this instance, consider for a moment, the determinacy of such campaign pictures -- images that do not always cast a candidate in the best of lights?  Do such images, pander toward sensationalism-- where the candidate-celeb is brought before the public specter of scrutiny as somehow weaker than her male opponents?

We cannot fault the photojournalists for honestly representing what is put before their lenses in a public forum. These images, like all the others of the candidates, have a collective impact -- a gestalt. In the torrential flood of stump speech pictures, it will be curious to track and compare just how the types of images made of the candidates differ in terms of what they explicitly and implicitly suggest about a candidate's ability to lead a democracy.   

 

Eyeballs on the web

Nielsen/NetRatings is reporting an increase in U.S. newspaper web traffic. In fact, this year's report shows that web traffic at newspaper websites rose 3.7 percent over last year.

According to Reuters, "More than 59 million people, or 37.1 percent of all active Internet users, visited the papers' Web sites during the quarter, up from 56.9 million a year ago..."

No surprises right? Not quite, some corporate news outlets are still struggling with trying to figure out what the digital age means to their bottom lines.

The pressure is on now in the newsroom as well as the classroom to convince laggards that the Internet is more than just a place to shovel content from print to Web.

As an educator, the opportunity to train future journalists to understand the complexities of news gathering operations and the dissemination of the news in a digital age is both exciting and challenging. Whatever the future may hold, we (the media and the educators that train journalists) must continue to emphasize the importance of a free press in a democratic society. The media, no matter what format it may take, must continue to question and speak to power with integrity and tenacity.