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Notes Photo November 3, 2011

"Protesters" vs. "Anarchists" — OWS Media Coverage and the Politics of Language

Labeling, and the politics of language is critical to the media coverage of Occupy right now. The fact the media is behind-the-curve in making that differentiating between the non-violent Occupy movement and violent agitators is very dangerous when it comes to informing the public as to what Occupy...

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Notes Photo November 2, 2011

Self-Policing: Another Part of the Occupy Story We're Not Getting

I'm assuming Occupy -- which is proving itself remarkably savvy at organization and "self-government" -- will continue to improve their self-policing. Something that remains to be seen, however, is whether traditional media picks up on the fact.

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Notes Photo October 19, 2011

The Venomous GOP Debate Audience

First they cheered for execution. Then they cheered for leaving the uninsured to die. And in last night's iteration...

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Notes Photo October 18, 2011

Demonizing OWS: Beware "the Anger Meme"

What's so significant about this photo is how it plants the seeds of demonization. Although the OWS movement has been overwhelming peaceful so far, my concern is seeing an "anger meme" creep into the reporting.

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Notes Photo October 17, 2011

The Pepper Spray Girl

So, watch out! Here comes the media hungrily eyeing the non-hierarchical, ego-less Occupy Wall Street movement with the typical aim to individualize, aestheticize, glamorize, romanticize and dole out some notoriety and fame.

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Notes Photo October 16, 2011

The New Frankness

Just like the passivity and the public's "make-like-a-lemming" instincts are coming off now in the streets, editorial photographers and political illustrators are picking up the beat.

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Notes Photo October 4, 2011

Target Michelle (and Carls Jr. Mitt)

Based on the info available, I've got to agree with the wingers that Michelle's supposedly stealth trip to Target was a photo-op.

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Notes Photo October 3, 2011

Occupy Wall Street: Plenty of Media Coverage … of the Bust of a Beautiful Girl

If you can get past the saintly/insanely beautiful girl and her cleavage, what we've got here also is the latest law enforcement adjustment in the battle for Wall Street.

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Notes Photo September 27, 2011

Alan Chin at Occupy Wall Street: Nights at Camp Hashtag

If the protest/occupation in Liberty Square is easy to make fun of, especially for its scale, it creates a new fact on the literal ground of Wall Street. These are young people, victimized by the recession, willing to publicly dissent and, as importantly, stand up against conventional wisdom.

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Notes Photo September 22, 2011

Eyes on Mrs. MacPhail

What's troubling me is the symbiotic and increasingly parasitical relationship that now exists between citizens and the media, evidenced by the way Anneliese MacPhail, the mother of the slain police officer, and the photographer for the Atlanta paper are using each other.

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Notes Photo September 18, 2011

Where's the Beef?

Nice job by NYT photo-editors on Saturday for two Section A shots calling B-S. Is it too much to hope this suggests a trend?

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Photo September 16, 2011

TIME's Rick Perry "Near-Nomination" Cover

Assigning someone the likes of Platon to shoot a Perry cover is going to automatically lend a gravity you would otherwise give to someone "just that far away" from the GOP nomination.

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Notes Photo September 15, 2011

September 11th: It Wasn't About What Happened, But What Could Be Narrated

The tenth anniversary of September 11, 2001 recycled and recirculated an enormous number of images. Many of them were familiar, the meaning of the event seemingly fixed. But anniversaries are part of the process of fixing memory, and as they are repeated they can obscure the uncertainty that prevailed...

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Notes Photo September 13, 2011

Michelangelo, Eat Your Heart Out!

Given the CNN Tea Party "Strange-Bedfellow" Debate, with "Corporations are People" Romney and Rick "States Rights, But Pro-Dream Act" Perry center stage, AND the cleverness of the Getty photo, I couldn't resist.

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Notes Photo September 12, 2011

Wrenching Around With the Tea Party

Catering to the angriest (and most rejectionist) element of society, big media is driving the interests and the narrative of the Tea Party.

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Notes Photo September 7, 2011

Did Bachmann Get Boring Overnight, or Did Mediatocracy Deem it So?

I find this an oh, so clever photo from Getty Images. At face value, it shows Bachmann boring the audience to death at Sunday’s candidate forum in South Carolina. Just beyond that surface, however, the photo is a wonderful commentary on how quickly the candidate has been X’d. If...

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Notes Photo September 6, 2011

9/11 and the Trade Center Overrun Labor Day

Far from stakeholders in their toil, Mr. McGowan and his cohorts are romanticized for their brawn and the "lucky fortune" of being part of the legacy of this re-building.

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Notes Photo August 29, 2011

9/11: One Day, Ten Years

What I like about the New York Mag anniversary cover is the message how little we're that much over it.

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