[Leica] Pro war propaganda photos

[Kyle Cassidy <KCassidy@asc.upenn.edu>]

> How do you know it was cropped? Did you see her maimed legs in non-US 
> publications? Editors tend to go with their reader's tastes. It's 
> hardly dishonest to crop. It's editorial judgment.

I'm reminded of a cover photo of newt gingrich that was on TIME (I think,
though it might have been newsweek) where newt looked tired and had a bad 5
o'clock shadow and the choice of photograph seemed to me to be an obvious
editorial comment on the part of the photo editor. By simply choosing which
PHOTO to use or which photo to take a journalist can present one version of
the truth or another. I remember in college covering a mayors race and one
of the candidates slighted a question I'd asked in a manner that bothered me
and after that, I only photographed him when he had his mouth open or was
making a silly face. (bad me! Bad me!) I wouldn't do the same anymore. I
also have a photograph of linda tripp (sadly, I didn't take it) that I tore
out of a magazine and saved it was so good, she's walking to her car,
surrounded by reporters and security guards and she has a beatific grin on
her face which seems to say "finally! I am getting the attention I deserve!
I'm so popular!" which may or may not have been the case. Someone may have
just told a joke which made her smile for an instant but the "reality"
conveyed by the image may or may not represent the "truth". 

As for cropping out the maimed legs of a girl killed in a bombing attack, we
all know war photographers who have taken grisly photos that would cause
middle america to lose their lunch. A photo editor runs a fine line between
showing the "horror of war" and getting angry readers setting fire to the
newspaper. With support for the war so high in the u.s., the american media
was quick to portray a violence-lite version. It's certianly altering the
photo in a meaningful way, but altering begins with choosing what to
photograph and what not to photograph.
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