Photojournalists Dirty Secret

That quiet man or woman behind the camera harbors a rather dirty secret……at one time or another they have purposely taken less than flattering photos of politicians with whom they disagree politically.  Photojournalists, myself included, instinctively understand the visual nature of human beings.  A good picture can capture a moment, effectively freezing the narrative and invoking an emotional response with the viewer. A photographer can create whatever impression they want with selective editing of their photos.

Pulitzer prize winning photographer Eddie Adams  once wrote about  the power of photography –   “Still photographs are the most powerful weapon in the world. People believe them; but photographs do lie, even without manipulation. They are only half-truths.” 

In a recent article on Buzzfeed, Amy Odell examines the difference in the quantity and quality of photographs taken of Ann Romney on the campaign trail as compared to FLOTUS.  The article highlighted the ugly truth that photojournalists will purposely photograph politicians with whom they disagree with politically in unflattering angles or apply hideous crops during post processing of the photos. These photos are then submitted for sale to photo stock sites such as Getty and then published in newspapers and periodicals.  A ton of ink and pixels have been generated on the topic of bias in the main stream media, particularly with the arena  of modern day politics. The same can be said of photojournalism. In this case, photos, not words are used to shape an opinion.

The article focused on Getty Image editorial collections but Getty is not the only stock photography site on the block. AP Images from 7/1/2012 to 10/28/2012 reveal similar findings in photo quality of both women. FLOTUS had a total of 563 photos to Ann Romney’s 262 photos for the same time period.  P.P.E. Agency had no photos of Ann Romney and 105 photos of FLOTUS with a focus on her European trips and her derriere.   Reuters compiled slide shows of both FLOTUS and Ann Romney. FLOTUS garnered 40 photos in the slide show and Ann Romney with 28 photos. The differences in the slide shows reveal a startling level of  editorial control in an attempt to shape the public visual impressions of both women. I am serious. Go check out the slide shows and pay particular attention to the photo of both women addressing their respective national convention this summer. To make it easier – go to photo 12 on the FLOTUS slide show and photo 3 on Ann Romney’s slide show.  Remember these are the stock photography sites your local newspaper typically go to for images of national events and the photojournalists who work for these companies know this.

Part of my passion for photojournalism is to do my part to fill in the ‘half-truths’ with my own independent brand of photojournalism. I’ve covered political rallies since 2005 always pushing the technological envelope and being frustrated quite often 🙂  Today, the technology to instantly share photos instantaneously has revolutionized photojournalism. It is no longer a walled garden of select photographers crafting and editing their photos to shape public impressions.  Everyone with a cell phone or a point and shoot digital camera can be a citizen photojournalist – together we can fill in the ‘half-truths’ of photography.

Oh P.S.: FLOTUS = First Lady of the United States.

What are your thoughts on photojournalism? Share them in the comments section.

Pennsylvania Primary Voter ID Information and a Few Endorsements

UPDATE: Welch concedes; Tom Smith is the presumptive winner of the Republican primary PA Senate Race

UPDATE: Calling the Democrat Attorney General Race for Kathleen Kane

UPDATE: An ousting of ‘blue dog’ democrats in PA? As good as it is for the nation that Altmire and Murphy to have lost, they (the moveon.org wing) served their purpose and were expendable commodities. The Lid takes a look at the alarming claiming of the Democrat party by unions. Question is when will the Democrat party be owned by Democrats?

Pennsylvania law now requires all voters to present a photo ID in order to cast a vote. Tuesday’s primary is a dress rehearsal for the November general election. You will be asked for an ID, but not barred from voting if you do not have one on your person.

The Committee of 70 has put together a voter guide explaining the details of the Voter ID law. Via Committee of Seventy:

WHAT TYPES OF PHOTO IDS ARE ACCEPTABLE IN NOVEMBER?

Acceptable PHOTO IDs include:
•    A PA driver’s license: currently valid or expired less than 12 months.
•    An ID issued by the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT): currently valid or expired less than 12 months.
•    A currently valid U.S. passport. Expired passports will not be accepted.
•    An active duty or retired U.S. military ID, including an ID for members of the PA National Guard: an indefinite expiration date will be accepted.
•    A currently valid military dependent’s ID. Expired IDs will not be accepted.
•    A currently valid employee ID issued by federal, PA, PA county or PA municipal government. Expired IDs will not be accepted.
•    A currently valid ID issued by a PA university, college, seminary, community college or two-year college to students, faculty, employees and alumni. Expired IDs will not be accepted.
•    A currently valid ID issued by a PA care facility (such as a long-term care nursing facility, assisted living residence or a personal care home). Expired IDs will not be accepted.

I have few politicians to endorse in this primary and with no further ado, here are my endorsed candidates:

On the Republican side:

PA Senator – Tom Smith or Sam Rohrer
PA State Representative – Dave Kralle
President – Mitt Romney

On the Democrat side:

Kathleen Kane – Attorney General – it was the following video that convinced me to endorse her:

Paul Ryan – GOP Path to Prosperity

Oh, this is going to give liberal Democrats migranes:

Major components of the plan are highlighted in the WSJ article:

• Reducing spending: This budget proposes to bring spending on domestic government agencies to below 2008 levels, and it freezes this category of spending for five years. The savings proposals are numerous, and include reforming agricultural subsidies, shrinking the federal work force through a sensible attrition policy, and accepting Defense Secretary Robert Gates’s plan to target inefficiencies at the Pentagon.

• Welfare reform: This budget will build upon the historic welfare reforms of the late 1990s by converting the federal share of Medicaid spending into a block grant that lets states create a range of options and gives Medicaid patients access to better care. It proposes similar reforms to the food-stamp program, ending the flawed incentive structure that rewards states for adding to the rolls. Finally, this budget recognizes that the best welfare program is one that ends with a job—it consolidates dozens of duplicative job-training programs into more accessible, accountable career scholarships that will better serve people looking for work.

As we strengthen and improve welfare programs for those who need them, we eliminate welfare for those who don’t. Our budget targets corporate welfare, starting by ending the conservatorship of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac that is costing taxpayers hundreds of billions of dollars. It gets rid of the permanent Wall Street bailout authority that Congress created last year. And it rolls back expensive handouts for uncompetitive sources of energy, calling instead for a free and open marketplace for energy development, innovation and exploration.

• Health and retirement security: This budget’s reforms will protect health and retirement security. This starts with saving Medicare. The open-ended, blank-check nature of the Medicare subsidy threatens the solvency of this critical program and creates inexcusable levels of waste. This budget takes action where others have ducked. But because government should not force people to reorganize their lives, its reforms will not affect those in or near retirement in any way.

Mitch McConnell and the GOP Response

Remarks by Senator Mitch McConnell on tonight’s speech addressing the BP spill by Obama:

Most Americans are baffled by all this. The crisis as they see it is a broken pipe at the bottom of the ocean, miles-long oil slicks, and threatened coastlines. The first thing they want to know is what the administration plans to do to plug the leak, clean up the oil, and mitigate the spill’s effects on the livelihoods of those affected.

And yet day after day, as the oil continues to flow, what we hear about from the administration is how tough they plan to be with BP and now, apparently, how important it is that we institute a new tax that will raise energy costs for every single American but which will do nothing to plug the leak. Never has a mission statement fit an administration as perfectly as Rahm Emanuel’s “never allow a crisis to go to waste.” Climate change policy is important, but first things first.

Americans are saying two things at the moment: stop this spill and clean it up. So with all due respect to the White House, the wetlands of the Bayou, the beaches of the coast, and our waters in the Gulf are far more important than the status of the Democrats’ legislative agenda in Washington. Americans want us to stop the oil spill first. And until this leak is plugged, they’re not in any mood to hand over even more power in the form of a new national energy tax to a government that, so far, hasn’t lived up to their expectations in its response to this crisis.

In addition to additional taxes, Obama creates another Czar – Meet the Drill Czar

For the life of me, I could not discern a plan of action through the thicket of finger pointing, cap&tax sales pitch and a tax increase proposal. Perhaps someone could point out the plan in Obama’s speech? Let me know, leave a comment below.

UPDATE: It appears ACORN will have a new job in the Obama administration – “... In order to ensure that all legitimate claims are paid out in a fair and timely manner, the account must and will be administered by an independent third party.” Seriously, this is the guy who stated if we don’t pass an 800 BILLION spending bill right frakking now unemployment would hit about 8.5 percent in 2009  rising to a peak of about 9 percent in 2010.

What about the rules of PayGo? Remember this is the government that makes stuff up as it goes along. Why would anyone, especially BP and the residents of the gulf states, trust this government to hand off 20 BILLION to an “independent third party” without any strings attached. As Alcee Hastings pointed out..we make the rules up as we go along, that will most certainly include the management of the 20 BILLION escrow account.

PS:  BP has already established a mechanism to pay legitimate claims of damage from the oil spill – you can check out the process HERE. More than 51 million dollars have been paid out in claims already through BP’s Claims Response program.  BP posted a video of the impact of the claims process in the gulf states. You can view the video HERE.

The more you look at it, the clearer it shows the government using this tragedy to financially squeeze a major employer in the gulf states.

Let’s take a walk down memory lane, shall we:

Why would anyone in the gulf states trust this democrat congress with a 20 BILLION dollar escrow account?

Thank You, Helen Thomas!

Thanks for breaking down another barrier and allowing the entire world to briefly view the true decrepit nature of empowered female liberalism. This nation need more peeks into the nature of this beast. Those holding such views should be encouraged to do so openly, no more hiding behind false constructs of feminism or radicalism. If this country is truly wanting to push past racial and cultural barriers, we need to accept that there are racists and bigots hiding among us. Helen Thomas has truly broken the watershed of this ugly, and disguised bigotry. For this action, I applaud her.  I hope more will follow her lead and drop the mask and reveal their bigoted nature so our nation can move past them and become the shining city on the hill.

It has been said that the truth will set you free, indeed, just as Hearst Corporation set Helen Thomas free 🙂

Best yet, this controversy allowed a crack journalist, Tommy Christopher, to ask a real hardball question regarding Helen’s comments during a White House briefing. I almost thought he was going to beg for Helen’s former seat, but instead he asked a well rehearsed spur of the moment question to Robert Gibbs.

It was not so long ago when Obama was singing ‘Happy Birthday’ to the elderly Thomas at the White House press room, now he won’t return her phone calls…

Who Funded Will Folks? UPDATE: Erick Erickson is Unsure

Erick Erickson Tweeted this morning : I know who paid Will Folks. This just got interesting.

Blogged at RedState: BREAKING: We Know Who Did It

Who paid Will Folks? He was allegedly offered money. A LOT of money. In fact, RedState now confirms through a whole heap of sources that he’s been trying to sell this story for a year.We know who bit.We know who didn’t bite.We know who paid Will Folks to push this story out there.

Will Folks denies it and lawyers up.

Erick promises to reveal all tomorrow morning:

You’ll have to tune into RedState in the morning for the answer. It’s taking a bit longer to translate everything into third-person prose.

For those coming in late to this story, let me get you up to speed on this drama. A South Carolina blogger, Will Folks, publicly revealed on his blog what he describes as an “inappropriate physical relationship” with gubernatorial hopeful Nikki Haley. Within nanoseconds the DNC began to push the alleged sex scandal and the lefty blogs had a collective orgasm over this allegation. Today, Erick Erickson threw an ocean of ice cold water on Will and the leftistas drooling over this alleged affair. Erick flat out stated he knows who is funding Will Folks to publish his allegation.

In anticipation of tomorrow’s revelation, who do you believe if funding Will Folks?

QuestionsView Results

Boston Tea Party Blend…Got Some?

Enjoyed some revolutionary tea as I surfed on forums hosted at the Coffee Party website.

I found a post that seems to capture the essence of the Java people. Destroy Your Enemies..Make Them Your Friend:

RNC releases staffer in wake of Voyeurgate

Ed Morrissey gets the gold star for the most skewering headline of the day: RNC releases staffer from bondage of employment

The GOP announced it has fired the staffer involved in Voyeurgate in response to what some have characterized as scandalous use of donor funds. The only scandal I can see is the absolute waste of 2,000 dollars on a bondage club based on Stanley Kubrick’s worst film ever – Eyes Wide Shut. I do applaud the GOP for removing the staffer from the ‘bondage’ of employment with the GOP. Pity the dismissed employee was not working for the DNC – they would have managed a promotion out of this ‘scandal’.

It seems Democrat supporters and local Democrat offices *cough* Oxgrove Dems *cough* have no problem displaying their licentious philosophy:

Oxgrove Dems Love Dick

Fcuk'ing for Peace

Criminial Bailout

“This leadership team will create the most honest, most open, and most ethical Congress in history.” – Speaker-Elect Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), Press Release, November 16, 2006

My blogging buddy, John Ruberry of Marathon Pundit has the story:

Rep Conyer’s wife declared indigent, taxpayers (you and me) to pay her legal bills.

Had enough? Vote conservative 2010, 2012.

Moveon.Org Decides I’m More Dangerous Then Beck – YES!!

Perhaps is was this photo that clued Moveon.org that I may be more dangerous than Beck:

All Hail Tania

Check the video evidence below the cut