February 8, 2020
Chatting the Pictures

Chatting the Pictures: Pelosi Shreds Trump’s SOTU; Coronavirus on the Move; Impeachment Going Away

Welcome to the latest edition of Chatting the Pictures. In each 10-minute webcast, co-hosts Michael Shaw, publisher of Reading the Pictures, and writer and historian, Cara Finnegan, discuss three prominent photos in the news. The program is broken into three segments: “The News,” “The Look,” and “The Pick.” “The News” examine a hard news image for its content value. “The Look” focuses on a news photo for its artistry and style. And “The Pick” asks what made a high profile photo so unique to editors or the public.

By Staff
About the Video

“The News” photo this week was taken by Jonathan Ernst for Reuters. It depicts Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi as she rips up the speech of President Donald Trump after his State of the Union address. As only the latest visual Trump-Pelosi confrontation, we trace how this scene came about. We also outline how Trump treats these addresses, as well as his presidency, like a performance, and how Pelosi, accordingly, stole the show.

For “The Look,” we discuss a photo taken by Antara Foto, distributed by Reuters. The photo shows medical officers spraying Indonesian nationals with antiseptic after they arrived from Wuhan, China, before transferring them to quarantine at an Indonesian air force base. We analyze the picture from the standpoint of tone (why so quirky?), control, and the obscurity of medical science and disease prevention.

“The Pick” this week is a photo by Samuel Corum for Getty Images. It shows reporters reaching out with their cell phones and audio recorders from behind rope lines trying to get a statement from Sen. Lamar Alexander. This was taken after Alexander’s opposition ended any possibility of calling witnesses in Trump’s Senate trial. We felt this photo best captured the hollow exercise, the media censorship, and the foregone conclusion of Trump’s acquittal. You can find all the Chatting the Pictures replays here.

The Full Edit

Take a closer look at some of the images from our larger photo edit.

Photo: Jonathan Ernst/REUTERS

Caption: Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) rips up the speech of U.S. President Donald Trump after his State of the Union address to a joint session of the U.S. Congress in the House Chamber of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, U.S. February 4, 2020. 

Photo: Antara Foto/via REUTERS

Caption: Medical officers spray Indonesian nationals with antiseptic after they arrived from Wuhan, China, before transferring them to be quarantined, at Hang Nadim Airport in Batam, Indonesia, February 2.

Photo: Samuel Corum/Getty Images

Caption: Reporters reach out with their cell phones and audio recorders trying to get a statement from Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN) as he passes by during a recess in the Senate impeachment trial of President Donald Trump on January 30, 2020 in Washington, DC. The trial has entered into the second day of the question phase where Senators have the opportunity to submit written questions to the House managers and President Trump’s defense team.

Post By

Staff
See other posts by Staff here.

The Big Picture

Follow us on Instagram (@readingthepictures) and Twitter (@readingthepix), and

Topic

A curated collection of pieces related to our most-popular subject matter.

Panelists

Michael Shaw

An analyst of news photos and visual journalism, and a frequent lecturer and writer on visual politics, photojournalism and media literacy, Michael is the founder and publisher of Reading the Pictures.

Cara Finnegan

Communication Professor, University of Illinois. Author of Making Photography Matter: A Viewer’s History from the Civil War to the Great Depression and Picturing Poverty: Print Culture and FSA Photographs. Moderator, Reading the Pictures Salon.

Reactions

Comments Powered by Disqus