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Notes Photo July 1, 2014

On that ISIS/ISIL Centerfold

I imagine you’ve seen this gentleman posing here in his outdoor boudoir?

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More Questions Over Ethics: Is Reuters Enabling ISIL and are they Working with Sympathizers Again?

What are the implications of these photos in terms of the integrity of international news reporting? And what is the political, perceptual and propaganda impact of these photos relative to the goals of this terror group knowing how high they are riding?

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Notes Photo June 29, 2014

Between an Electrifying World Cup and Bodies on the Ground: Mario Tama in Brazil

What Mario has done this deep into the tournament, and with Team Brazil riding high, is to graft together the social and political with the sport and the spectacle.

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Notes Photo June 26, 2014

Pictures Beyond the Veil: The Hijab and Free Choice

Although compulsary veiling is certainly a violation of women’s civil rights, the act of unveiling can similarly obscure women’s identities.

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Notes Photo June 24, 2014

As Headlines Mash, War & Sports Mixed Metaphor of the Day

The eye candy news slideshow meets Iraq hysteria meets the sports industrial complex.

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Notes Photo June 20, 2014

What’s Great About 7 Guys in the Desert, at a Camel Market, Watching the World Cup

You'd think these guys from Saudi Arabia would be watching either Algeria or Iran, wouldn’t you?

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Notes Photo June 17, 2014

Terror Imagery the Envy of Hollywood: Why a Scapegoating West Can't Get Enough of ISIS

The question is, why is Western media suddenly so obsessed with the propaganda of ISIS in Iraq, and gratuitously publishing the groups factually-ambiguous terror scenes?

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Notes Photo June 13, 2014

The Storming of Mosul, Iraq on the Brink, and the Impressive Access by Reuters to ISIS Militants

Impressed with the acumen and how Reuters managed this kind of access to the ISIS fighters in Mosul, I do think the process of procurement -- while providing for the safety of photojournalists -- must also secure the confidence of the audience.

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Notes Photo June 12, 2014

World Cup Optics: Mario Tama on Brazil Vs. Brazil

Instead of the social stories functioning as due diligence, as preamble and warm up act, what if the coverage over the next four weeks did simultaneous justice to both the thrilling sports spectacle and the social cost?

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Notes Photo June 7, 2014

Somalia is Not Just a War Zone

The point here is not to celebrate the human spirit, but rather to understand that people don’t have to be asking for the moon when they ask for peace and stability. A normal life will do.

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Tank Man, Inc.

I have no doubt that China needs more democracy, but I would not offer the present mix of populism and neoliberalism that defines politics in the US today as a splendid model to which they should aspire.

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Notes Photo June 4, 2014

Glimpses of the Missing Nigerian Girls: Glenna Gordon's Photos of Extraordinary Ordinary Things

Notebooks, uniforms, their own clothes and finally photographs of the girls themselves. They are ordinary things that in this extraordinary context start to build up into a sad, touching image of some of the lives that have been torn away from their normal course.

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Notes Photo June 1, 2014

Juxtaposition of the Day: A Sporting Look at Brazil's Social Goals

Though the comparison between goal posts on the beaches and in the slums is implicit, the captions downplay the distinction.

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Notes Photo May 30, 2014

David Degner on Egypt’s Telltale Election: The Result of a Hard, Sad and Bloody Process

If this bus was a violation of the "no-campaigning during voting" rules, it didn't matter.

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Notes Photo May 27, 2014

David Degner from Cairo: On the Sissi Election and Egypt Under the Boot

If there is cheering and yelling at events like this, my sense is that most Egyptians are quietly resigned. It’s so predictable from here out. Egyptians have lost their voice again.

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Notes Photo May 19, 2014

James Whitlow Delano – Fifth Dispatch: Slash Cameroon’s Rainforest and Lose Ancestor’s Souls

In this longread and photojournal for BagNews Originals, photographer James Whitlow Delano details the impact of multinational logging and palm oil operations on the people and rainforest of Cameroon.

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Notes Photo May 18, 2014

Concern and Eroticism: Wire Services Warm Up for Brazil and World Cup

Here comes the World Cup -- and the effort by Western visual media to create a simultaneously vital and salable picture of the Brazilian social and political landscape.

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Notes Photo May 14, 2014

Bring Back Our Girls … From the Digital Divide

What the girls represented was a blind spot -- active evidence that the web isn't, in fact, omniscient, and our digital experience -- as much as it feels like the essence of inclusivity -- is overwhelmingly exclusive and exclusionary.

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