New Yorker Cover: Satire or Stereotyping?

The New Yorker’s newest cover is causing a major flap nationally with its portrayal of the Obama’s as terrorists in the White House. The magazine’s editors call it a satire of right wing stereotypes of the Obama’s that have been created by the political right. Unfortunately it is very damaging to the Obama campaign because it reinforces the stereotypes that some Americans actually believe. Visual messages, even illustrations, can be a very powerful way of reinforcing accepted stereotypes.

Vanity Fair Cover Update

From one of my recent posts I talked about Vanity Fair magazine’s recent covers (20 different covers to be exact) that are touted by the editors as “historic.” Yet only two of the Annie Leibovitz covers are real, the other 18 were Photoshopped in post production. After checking the actual magazines there is nothing that states the “historic” covers are actually illustrations. In fact, for the most part you are led to believe that these people actually came together in each scene. In the print version of the magazine the film markers are even showing, even further emphasizing that these are “real” images. Only the subjects of two covers, President George W. Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, and Alicia Keys and Iman, were photographed together.

Photojournalists Strike Update

An agreement between The Sun of Baltimore and the Newspaper Guild was passed by the union members by voice voice Thursday night. The union has agreed to a the provision that would require reporters to take photos, but only with some type of training, training that has not been specified by either side. According to a story by Editor & Publisher’s Joe Strupp, “Guild officials had objected to the proposal, with 140 members even signing a petition against it on Wednesday. The new deal requires that any staffer forced to work as both a reporter and photographer have proper training. ‘They have to provide that training,’ said Bill Salganik, President of the Washington-Baltimore Newspaper Guild. ‘It makes us feel we’ve got to keep an eye on it, but it is a protection. We all want a quality product.’ Sun spokeswoman Linda Yurche called the photographer/reporter provision “a positive thing for everyone.”

Google Data Retention Reduced

Privacy is a huge concern for individuals surfing the web. Google and other search engine companies have long held on to personal data for long periods of time. There has been an ongoing concern that personal search data is being used by Google and others to spy for the government on private citizens. While this is a step in the right direction, we need to let these companies know that privacy is paramount.

From the BBC: Google will limit the length of time it holds personally identifiable data

The move comes in response to a data protection group that wrote to the firm questioning its privacy policies. The European advisory body, called Article 29, said Google’s current data retention practices could be breaking European privacy laws. The search giant has said it will now keep personally identifiable search data for 18 months rather than the previous period of 18 to 24 months. – more

Photojournalists Strike

From the Newspaper Guild:

Sun photojournalists launch byline strike

Eighteen Baltimore Sun photojournalists launched a byline strike today protesting Tribune Co.’s move to force reporters to become photographers and videographers as a way to cut costs.

If Chicago-based Tribune has its way, reporters at The Sun, with little or no experience in photography, will not only be required to shoot still pictures, but take pictures with video cameras for submission to the paper’s website while they are conducting interviews and writing stories on deadline.

“Combining jobs and forcing reporters with limited experience to take videos and still shots will compromise the quality of The Sun,” said Cet Parks, Chief Negotiator for the Washington-Baltimore Newspaper Guild. “This is another misguided step by Tribune and clear evidence that the company will compromise quality to save a buck. What Tribune fails to see is that when quality suffers advertisers will spend their money elsewhere.”

In protest Sun photojournalists will withhold their bylines from pictures they take from June 11- 13. The photojournalists along with two photo editors and three technicians sent a letter to Sun Editor Timothy Franklin on June 7 expressing concern that quality will be compromised if the paper moves aggressively in this direction. - more

Censoring the Student Press

The Illinois House and Senate have passed legislation, now under review by the governor, to protect student journalists at public colleges from administrative censorship, the Chicago Tribune reported. The legislation — similar to a measure enacted in California — is designed to reverse the impact of a 2005 federal appeals court ruling involving the paper at Governors State University, in Illinois. Inside Higher Ed

Historic & Manipulated

Vanity Fair magazine’s recent covers (20 different covers to be exact) are touted by the editors as “historic.” Yet only two of the Annie Leibovitz covers are real, the other 18 were Photoshopped in post production.

My problem is with the word “Historic” being used to describe the images and the covers. While the covers are well done (what do you expect from Annie Leibovitz) they are hardly historic. Historic would have been to have all the subjects together and having a dialogue during the shoot. It will be interesting to see how Vanity Fair words the image description for each cover. Will the word “illustration” appear?

The idea by guest editor Bono of U2 fame was to create a visual link of important actors involved in advocating for the African continent. Muhammad Ali, Oprah Winfrey, Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, Barack Obama, George Clooney, Madonna, Brad Pitt and Desmond Tutu are just a few of the famous faces on the covers. Amy Argetsinger and Roxanne Roberts of the Washington Post quote Leibovitz as saying, “These are more photo illustrations than photographs, but the point was to unite people for a common purpose.” Leibovitz traveled the world to track everyone down and get the singular images that would later be combined. Only the subjects of two covers, President George W. Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, and Alicia Keys and Iman, were photographed together.

Men’s Fitness and Andy Roddick

When Men’s Fitness magazine “beefed” up Andy Roddick’s arms in a recent cover they crossed an ever increasing grey line (for some) of digitally manipulated cover art. I believe there is no distinction between what Men’s Fitness did and what recent photojournalists did, deceiving the public. Publishers believe they are doing the right thing when presenting cover “art.” But where do we draw the line?

From Roddick’s BLOG: I spent the last few weeks in Austin really focused on my training and getting back into shape…but pretty sure I’m not as fit as the Men’s Fitness cover suggests…little did I know I have 22 inch guns and a disappearing birth mark on my right arm. I saw the cover for the first time when I landed after Rome…it was pretty funny…I walked by the newsstand in the airport and did a total double take …I can barely figure out how to work the red-eye tool on my digital camera…whoever did this has mad skills.

DN