May 2, 2020
Chatting the Pictures

Chatting the Pictures: Food Plant Workers at Risk; Politics and EMT; Arlington Precautions

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 is a handout photo from Tyson Foods. It shows plant workers at its Camilla, Georgia plant separated by plastic dividers to protect from the coronavirus. Many workers have died and hundreds are infected in meatpacking plants around the country. We look at the safety deficiencies in this photo, in other photos from the plant, and in the industry at this critical time.

For “The Look,” we discuss an image taken by John Moore for Getty Images. In the photo from April 2nd, we see Emergency Medical technicians in Stamford, CT, checking a woman in her apartment for COVID-19 symptoms. On the TV is one of the Presidential task force briefings. We explore the disconnect between the two.

“The Pick” this week is a military handout photo by Elizabeth Fraser of the U.S. Army. It shows soldiers assigned to the special Military Affairs “Old Guard” doing honors in protective masks during the funeral of a veteran at Arlington Cemetery. We focus on the impact of the coronavirus on this, and other memorial rituals during the pandemic.

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: Handout via Tyson Foods. Caption: Tyson Foods workers at the company’s poultry processing plant in Camilla, Georgia.

Photo: John Moore/Getty Images.

Caption: Stamford EMS medics wearing personal protective equipment (PPE), check a woman in her apartment for COVID-19 symptoms during a televised Presidential press conference on April 02, 2020 in Stamford, Connecticut. The medics came after she fell down and could not get up, but she showed no signs of coronavirus. Stamford, located close to New York City, now has more than 1,000 confirmed coronavirus cases, the most of any city in Connecticut. The majority of Stamford EMS calls are now for coronavirus patients.

Photo: Elizabeth Fraser/U.S. Army/Arlington National Cemetery via Getty Images Caption: In this handout photo provided by the US Army/Arlington National, A soldier assigned to 1st Battalion, 3d U.S. Infantry Regiment (The Old Guard) renders honors during the funeral for U.S. Army Retired Command Sgt. Maj. Robert M. Belch in Section 68 of Arlington National Cemetery, April 14, 2020 in Arlington, Virginia. Given current health protection guidance from the Secretary of Defense, Old Guard Soldiers wear face coverings to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 while executing the Memorial Affairs mission. Command Sgt. Maj. Belch served in the Army for 26 years, where he was a Combat Engineer with the 42nd Infantry, 142nd Combat Engineer Battalion, Rainbow Division, as a decorated World War II veteran, he earned several commendations that included the Legion of Merit.

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Staff
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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.

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