Snowden in Moscow: “The More Photographed I Am…the More Dangerous my Situation”
It’s evident that either his sartorial taste runs quite narrowly -- as befitting a classic “computer nerd” -- or he’s very specifically controlling his image, or both.
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Terrorism Revisualized
Could you imagine the appearance of such a photo during the Dubya era, the concept -- and the threat -- of terrorism being that absolute?
Continue ReadingThoughts on the Yasiin Bey (Mos Def) Gitmo-"Inspired" Force-Feeding Video
Of course, buzz arises whenever a particular photo or set of photos with blowback potential make the news -- most typically these days, involving their suppression. What we are hardly mindful of, on the other hand, is the ongoing obscuring or the outright censorship of imagery when an issue...
Continue ReadingThe Santa Monica School Rampage: Post-Newtown, Been There, Done That?
The media treatment of the shooting on Friday at Santa Monica College was mostly noteworthy for its mundanity.
Continue ReadingTIME Gitmo Photo Story: Tell Me You Didn't, Eugene
Given the military censorship and the heinous situation surrounding the ongoing mass hunger strike and force-feeding of prisoners, it's troubling this photo-story would just pass into the ether.
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Gitmo Pics They Felt You Kinda Oughta See: "Internal Nourishment Preparation"
Torturing a man for information, or out of sadism or to keep him alive, is still torture.
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Marathon Terror Memorials
With loss and memory becoming so formalized now, it seems like each catastrophe or attack necessarily becomes branded -- to cities, to specific locales, and also to symbols or events they most logically refer to.
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Your Turn: World Trade Center Relaunch
Given the history, I was attracted to a number of different versions of the Trade Center spire being hoisted to the top of the new building.
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9/11: Belated Crime Scene
Is it just me, or do others think investigating just an old airplane part found blocks from Ground Zero really demands clothing that prevents contamination?
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Picture of Tamerlan Tsarnaev Surfaces as Islamic Soldier?
If you weren't paying close attention, you might first think this photo circulating today shows Boston Marathon bombing suspect, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, as a Chechen jihadist.
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Syria Serves Up Rebel "Terrorists" to Western Journalists. Q is: How to Shoot Them?
I wonder if it what we had on the NYT front page last Thursday was a standoff between heavy-handed state propaganda and high-level photojournalism.
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Boston and Lower West: How Two Disasters Stack Up in the Media Eye
Is it perverse to say West, worthy of our concern, care, questions and support, was the victim of unfortunate timing?
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The Dzhokhar Tsarnaev Ambulance Shot: In this Day and Age, America Brings a Terrorist in Alive???
It seemed clear to me that the city of Boston and Boston PD took quite a bit of pride (not to mention, enormous effort) in capturing the junior Tsarnaev alive.
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Alan Chin from Watertown, MA: Endgame at 67 Franklin Street
Inside the police perimeter on Franklin Street it was hushed and quiet, with only the sound of generators powering the metal halide arc lights and a flight of bats rustling tree branches on what would return soon to simply a chilly spring night.
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On that Powerful "Condolence for Boston" Photo Tweeted from Syria Today
I was going to call it a "double message" -- which it is, but to do so would detract from the very earnest and heartfelt quality to this.
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On That Iconic Photo from the Boston Marathon Bombings
While many are anticipating this was international terrorism (and sure, the facts might turn out that way), what this already widely-published picture reflects is primarily an attack on the weekend (not the state) warrior.
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Before We Start Ascribing Bad Intent to Whole Countries, Regions and Cultures…
Most of the actions in play -- between the creation of the im-Bacile Muhammed video; the attack on the U.S. Embassy in Libya and the killing of the ambassador; and the chest-and-drum beating for war on the part of the Israeli Prime Minister -- are not generalized or mainstream...
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Alan Chin in Lower Manhattan: You Said You'd Never Forget
Alan Chin's moving photo-essay on the 9/11 anniversary losing its significance with images side-by-side of the near-completed Freedom Tower and his father's photo of the original World Trade Center under construction.
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