[Reader-list] Media Manipulation: Are Conflict Photos Staged?

[A. Mani]

>From http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=27141

Media Manipulation: Are Conflict Photos Staged?

by Anthony Cuthbertson

A photograph or video can be misleading. The adage that “the camera
never lies” has itself never seemed more unreliable— in an age where
visual documentation can present a warped or even entirely false
picture of events for purposes of propaganda or sensationalism. The
toppling of the statue of Saddam Hussein in Firdos Square is a famous
example of how what’s reported does not necessarily reflect reality.
On that occasion, what was portrayed in the western media as a
spontaneous demonstration against a hated dictator by his former
subjects was in fact an event orchestrated for cameras by American-led
coalition forces. Recently, Italian photographer Ruben Salvadori has
offered a new perspective on photojournalism within the context of
conflict by turning his camera back onto his fellow journalists. His
photo essay Photojournalism Behind the Scenes explores the process of
conflict-image-production in an area of East Jerusalem where
Palestinian riots against Israeli forces are a weekly occurrence. In
the accompanying video Salvadori questions the role and influence of
journalists in conflict situations by “breaking the taboo of the
invisible photographer.”

This may be seen as the latest salvo in what has been variously dubbed
‘Pallywood’ and ‘Hezbollywood’ by pro-Israeli media watchdog
advocates, terms used to describe the phenomenon of manufacturing
documentation about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. In 2005 Boston
University professor Richard Landes produced the documentary
Pallywood: According to Palestinian Sources, alleging specific
instances of media manipulation designed to win the public relations
war against Israel. It was a rebuttal in kind to the 2004 documentary
Peace, Propaganda and the Promised Land, which accused the US media of
distorted and pro-Israel coverage on most of the major news networks.
Both documentaries presented specific examples of intentional
misrepresentation or invention of reported events by the media.

Photojournalism Behind the Scenes sheds new light on how the situation
in Israel and Palestine continues to be as much a war waged through
means of PR and the media as it is a physical conflict. By drawing
attention to this hidden dimension of the conflict, it offers a
criticism of the media industry’s demands for dramatic photos –
demands that have led some journalists to look for and create drama
where there is none. Developing his project beyond this area,
Salvadori now aims to investigate other conflict zones such as
Afghanistan and Pakistan.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_B1H-1opys
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yyn8Kb_do8g

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