Girls in Mosul, O’Reilly, Transparency: Our Social Media Roundup

Our social media roundup this week has to do with news at face value. Has Trump, after bombing a Syrian airfield and saber rattling over North Korea (and misplacing an aircraft carrier), proven himself a leader, or just a tornado? Has Pence sent North Korea a message just by donning a bomber jacket and posing in front of a huge pair or binoculars at the DMZ? With one White House photo after another focusing on the press gaggle, is Trump telegraphing he’s mostly about the show? And, in the face of his stunning fall, how did it happen that the thoroughly unrepentant Bill O’Reilly, the former high priest of FOX News, appear in a wire photo with the Pope?

What with all the paranoia, the cynicism and sense of doom in the air, we were attracted to several photos the last week or so that challenge the negativity, or the lens itself and the lack of transparency. Trudeau and Malala shared a peace message on an auspicious day. Girls are back in school in a section of Mosul. And how about those photos of couples, I mean animals, I mean couples … and the brilliant employment of negative space?

News and media culture has its own perceptual geometry.

Problem with a hysterical world view is that you miss scenes like these. Girls in school in ISIS-reclaimed eastern #Mosul. @reuterspictures pic.twitter.com/iIfm7HhMZu

— Reading The Pictures (@ReadingThePix) April 18, 2017

There, but for the grace of God I go? (Actually, sorta interested how this pic came about.) #OReilly @CNNPhotos @AP https://t.co/vUSSMhD706 pic.twitter.com/MyvpOhC1Hk

— Reading The Pictures (@ReadingThePix) April 21, 2017

Ultimately, a visual metaphor for people who communicate no sense of scale or proportion. #nkorea #pence @WSJ pic.twitter.com/OzX2lKIqkO

— Reading The Pictures (@ReadingThePix) April 17, 2017

And then there’s the sub-message — that (rare in this town) the sign does what it says. 📷@rollcall #april15 #protest #trumptaxreturns pic.twitter.com/uYZaMaxoR9

— Reading The Pictures (@ReadingThePix) April 17, 2017

Article all about politics, but cover another flashing red light about military adventurism. #notnormal #sticksandstones via @coverjunkie pic.twitter.com/I7X4ZhwciS

— Reading The Pictures (@ReadingThePix) April 15, 2017

Vivid counterpoint to the shocking US bombing news today. Waging #peace is not a piece of cake. #Malala #Trudeau #Canada @reutersimages pic.twitter.com/mUugIomH5u

— Reading The Pictures (@ReadingThePix) April 13, 2017

Can’t get enough of this trope, and the nice simple edit: one woman against the world https://t.co/L93PmtxP4o pic.twitter.com/rgXI0zG1Yp

— Reading The Pictures (@ReadingThePix) April 12, 2017

And this shot of Corker made CNN pix of week why? To document Gorsuch vote, or how we objectify women? pic.twitter.com/1Ca9VHBogt

— Reading The Pictures (@ReadingThePix) April 9, 2017

These super creative ads use optical illusions to promote pet adoption: https://t.co/jHzcEKZeSB pic.twitter.com/DH3anvzidR

— PetaPixel (@petapixel) April 17, 2017

Doesn’t do justice to call it “negative space.” Simply intimate. https://t.co/QYBYUansWy

— Reading The Pictures (@ReadingThePix) April 17, 2017

What NATO portrait? We can only assume at this point that the steady stream of White House social media pics showcasing boom mikes and the camera-wielding DC press corps telegraphs the president’s obsessive need for attention.⠀ ⠀ @Reposting @realdonaldtrump:⠀ …⠀ “‪Great meeting with NATO Secretary General – we agreed on the importance of getting countries to pay their fair share & focus on the threat of terrorism.‬”

A post shared by Reading The Pictures (@readingthepictures) on Apr 13, 2017 at 2:45pm PDT

That’s some spirited geometry. #Repost @plattys1 ・・・ A friar walks the Way of the Cross through the streets of Harlem. How I love this city. #fujifilmx_us #fujixpro2 #gettyimages #gettyimagesnews #faith #fujifilmx_us #wayofthecross #harlem

A post shared by Reading The Pictures (@readingthepictures) on Apr 14, 2017 at 2:41pm PDT

Photo: REUTERS/Marko Djurica. Caption: Pupils attend a class at an elementary school in eastern Mosul, Iraq, April 17, 2017.