torresd

http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article1248.shtml

dan mercer

:
:
http://www.inform.umd.edu/News/Diamondback/archives/2003/03/18/cartoon.html

Dan Mercer

dan mercer

:
:
And more:

http://www.honestreporting.com/articles/critiques/Rachel_Corrie3_Continued.asp
Rachel Corrie, Continued
In the wake of a fatal bulldozer incident, irresponsible photo captions and disparate editorial cartoons.

The cir***stances of American college student Rachel Corrie's March 16 death beneath an IDF bulldozer in Gaza remain unclear. The
key unanswered question: Was Corrie visible and/or audible to the IDF driver just before the accident?

The consumer public got a huge dose of misleading information when Associated Press distributed a photo showing Corrie, standing in
(apparently) direct view of the bulldozer driver, dressed in orange and speaking into a megaphone in the direction of the oncoming
vehicle.

The AP caption reads: "Rachel was run over Sunday by the bulldozer that she was trying to stop from tearing down a building in the
Rafah refugee camp, witnesses said."

See the AP photo at:
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/030316/168/3j4y0.html

The problem with the AP photo caption is that readers are led to believe that this photo depicts the very scene and moment of the
accident. The implication is criminal recklessness on the part of the IDF driver.

In fact, however, this photo was NOT taken in the moments before Corrie's death. Joseph Smith, of the pro-Palestinian International
Solidarity Movement, was the photographer and wrote a chronological account of the incident (published on pro-Palestinian websites).

Smith says that the photo of Corrie "standing with megaphone" is ascribed to the time period 2pm-4pm. In addition, during this
period, Smith notes that the bulldozer "always stopped in time to avoid injuring them."

At the time of Corrie's death (5pm), Smith describes Corrie as "sitting, with arms waving" (no megaphone), and another colleague
holding the megaphone from a distance.

Additionally, one key point that Smith does not mention is that the bulldozers shown in the two photos are different types. The
later photo is a bulldozer with much smaller windows, and hence reduced visibility.

Read Smith's account at:
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article1284.shtml

Thus, the AP photo and caption fails to note the two most essential factors in determining visibility or lack thereof: 1) Corrie was
no longer standing, but had changed to a sitting position, and 2) she was no longer in possession of attention-grabbing megaphone.

When publishing such a photo, AP is obligated to explain details of chronology; in the absence of any information, readers presume
that since the bulldozer appears 8-10 feet away from Corrie, the photographer must have snapped the picture moments before the
bulldozer hit her.

This photo was published by many of the 15,000 media outlets that AP services. And though the accompanying articles may provide
clarifying information, a picture is worth a thousand words. In this case, by not providing a caption that clearly counterbalances
the easy "misread," AP has misrepresented Corrie's death and contributed to a worldwide slander of the IDF.

Please send comments to AP:
feedback@ap.org

* * *

An example of how the Corrie photo was misused appears in the CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR, which ran this photo caption:

"Death of a protester: Rachel Corrie, wearing a reflective Day-Glo jacket, shouts through a bullhorn at an oncoming Israeli army
bulldozer in southern Gaza Sunday moments before it ran her over."
http://www.csmonitor.com/2003/0318/p06s01-wome.html

"Moments before"?!

Comments to:
oped@csps.com

Update: below is the text of a clarification from the Christian Science Monitor (April 2):

A number of letter writers have complained that in the March 18 issue the caption of Associated Press photo of American Rachel
Corrie was incorrect. The photo was not taken "moments before" she was run over by an Israeli bulldozer, but at least 45 minutes
before her death, says Joe Smith, the photographer...
http://www.csmonitor.com/2003/0402/p06s01-wogn.html

Unfortunately, the photo caption remains uncorrected online at:
http://www.csmonitor.com/2003/0318/p06s01-wome.html

* * *

Meanwhile, CNN.com juxtaposed a pair of "before and after" photos, which implied a particularly ambiguous sense of chronology. But
when HonestReporting.com provided additional information, CNN issued a "Caption Clarification." See it at:
http://cnn.com/2003/WORLD/meast/03/16/rafah.death/index.html

HonestReporting encourages members to monitor your local media to see if they used the misleading photos, as well as what
information was provided in the photo caption and/or article itself to counterbalance any misconceptions.

Indeed, The New York Times issued the following correction:

"A picture caption on March 17 with an article about an American protester who was crushed by an Israeli Army bulldozer in Gaza
referred incorrectly to the bulldozer shown. It was one that the protester, Rachel Corrie, had earlier tried to stop from destroying
a Palestinian home. It was not the one that killed her."
http://nytimes.com/2003/03/26/pageoneplus/corrections.html

---- DANZIGER CARTOON ----

In the wake of this media misstep, nationally syndicated political cartoonist Jeff Danzinger issued a cartoon worthy of appearance
in the most entrenched anti-Semitic Mideast rags. Danziger depicts Prime Minister Sharon as a satanic bulldozer driver, burying his
critics under a mound of dirt.

See the cartoon at:
http://www.danzigercartoons.com/cmp/2003/danziger1600.html

Danzinger's presentation of Sharon as a murderer of political opposition is particularly troubling in light of the fact that
Sharon's is the only truly democratic government in the Mideast, allowing -- even encouraging -- full and vocal opposition. And this
at a time when America is sacrificing its soldiers in order to promote democracy in the region.

Danziger's cartoons are distributed by the Chicago Tribune Media Syndicate, whose media relations director can be contacted at:
kbremer@tribune.com

Danziger himself may be reached at:
jeff@danzigercartoons.com

---- GHANDI AND KING? ----

Meanwhile, the Toledo (Ohio) Blade published an editorial that compares Corrie with none less than Mahatma Ghandi and Martin Luther
King Jr.

Did Corrie truly continue the legacy of Ghandi and King?

As noted in the previous HonestReporting communique, Corrie was photographed last month burning an American flag in Gaza before
young schoolchildren (http://honestreporting.com/graphics/articles/corrie.jpg). One wonders if the two true giants of human rights
struggle would be flattered by the comparison with the woman who appears in these photos.

Read the Toledo Blade editorial at:
http://toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2003103190095

Comments to the Managing Editor, Kurt Franck:
kfranck@theblade.com

---- CAMPUS DOUBLE STANDARD ----

A University of Maryland student newspaper has caused a stir by publishing an editorial cartoon that depicts Corrie's actions as the
definition of stupidity for protecting a "gang of terrorists."

See the cartoon at:
http://www.inform.umd.edu/News/Diamondback/archives/2003/03/18/cartoon.html

In response, Univ. of Maryland students staged an overnight sit-in protest, the academic administration said the cartoon
"embarrassed the university" (see: http://www.inform.umd.edu/News/Diamondback/archives/2003/03/21/news3.html), and Maryland's U.S.
Congressman Albert Wynn publicly expressed his criticism.

Without addressing the question of the editorial prudence of publishing the cartoon, we ask: If the players in the event were
reversed, and a deceased Israeli were presented as "stupid," would the cartoon have elicited such protests of outrage from campus,
administrative, and public officials? We highly doubt it.

hermang

This does qualify for the Darwin Award.

clave

<...blah, blah, blah...>


Nice objective piece there, Bill.

Is there some reason you neglected to mention that the article you quoted was
written by the notorious hate-radio gasbag Dennis Prager for TowhHall.com? Or
that TownHall.com is a mouthpiece for Richard Scaife's Heritage Foundation?

Probably just an oversight on your part, right?

Jim

bill

I
It is more objective than anything I have seen you post.

Bill


"There will never be a nuclear war; there's too much
real estate involved."
-- Frank Zappa on the Tonight Show, C.A. 1988

clave

<...>

Sorry, but I don't have a dog in the Israeli/Palestinian race. I call bullshit
on either side when I see it, and what you posted, son, was the crème de la
crap. And your omission of its source seems pretty cowardly.

Who are you going to claim as an authority next? Bill O'Reilly? Michael
Weiner? Dennis Miller maybe?

Jim

bill

You can't refute with facts, so you stoop to the lower regions to shoot the
messenger. No wonder everyone laughs at you rather than with you. Why
don't you go patronize someone else, boy.

Obviously Corrie didn't corner the market on stupidity.

Bill

"A conservative is a man with two perfectly good legs who,
however, has never learned how to walk forward."
-- Franklin Delano Roosevelt

bill

So juinior, you continue your juvenile diatribe without addressing the
issues. Time and time again - no facts just whine, snivel, obfuscate, and
anything but discuss the issues. Liars just have to support liars within
the house of lies, I guess.

Bill


"I've got no use at all for the religious right.
Anybody who tries to make politics out of God
ought to go to hell."
-Barry Goldwater-

clave

<...>

Okay, smaller words this time.

I'm not refuting you with facts because you presented no facts of your own to
refute.

You posted a rabid, slobbering OPINION (hit-piece really) that ridiculed
Rachel Corrie's death, and frankly, the article doesn't deserve much more than
ridicule itself. Again, you're welcome, and you set yourself up for it.

That you keep stomping your little feets and whinging about "facts" and "issues"
is righteously hilarious, but I don't expect you to understand why any more than
I believe you actually read all of the article you posted, so I'll stop now.

Jim