MMMM #145 -- News Manipulation

Women! Begone!!

      A Brooklyn Yiddish newspaper had Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and a female terrorism official in the background removed from the iconic photo of President Obama and others watching the operation that left Osama Bin Laden dead.

     The new media folks would have you believe the traditional media does this all day long...sits around deciding how to manipulate news to sell their own agenda. This newspaper did it because their Ultra-Conservative Jewish beliefs don't allow them to publish pictures of women for fear of arousing men.

     Right.

     In my own experience, most of the media is way too busy just trying to get the job done to plot agendas.

     The newspaper, by the way, did violate the White House photo use agreement, which stipulates you can't change their pictures in any way. And according to one rabbi, the violated a Jewish Law that forbids deceit. 

     Now there's a good rule for new and old media to follow.

[Plus: Read CNN's story on the behind-the-scenes way the Arnold and The Baby story broke...including the former Governor's

 amazingly vicious method of dealing with reporters.]

[The Monday Morning Media Memo is a regular feature of this blog.]

Shorpy Historic Photo Archive - a walk through time

By: R.K. Barry

Some time ago a colleague suggested I check out a website that features historical photographs. It's called Shorpy. I don't know what that name means, but it appears that members of the site are encouraged to post pictures from their private collection.

The most interesting photos for me tend to be those from the late 19th to the early 20th century. Although this discussion is well beyond my technical knowledge of photography, my colleague informs me that there was a technology developed at that time that allowed for a massive leap forward in the resolution of a picture - something to do with the size of the plates and something called, I think, dry plate glass negatives. Again, I have no idea what I am talking about.

I do, however, strongly encourage you to visit this site. The key is to make sure that you enlarge the photos by clicking on the link at the bottom of each one that says view full size. It makes the pictures quite large while maintaining the resolution. It really makes it seem like you can step into the scene. No kidding. Again, the site is called Shorpy. You can find it here.

The picture above is just something I found randomly. From the caption provided I note that it is Cleveland, Ohio (1911), Euclid Avenue and 105th Street. As you can imagine, this image on the blog does no justice to what the website offers. The link to this specific picture can be found here. Don't forget to enlarge it.

While urban and industrial scenes are quite interesting, the faces in so many of the pictures are also absolutely incredible, especially at high resolution.

If you are like me you will waste a lot of time searching randomly through this site.

(Cross-posted to Lippmann's Ghost)

Photo

     I hated the fact that I didn't have my camera with me a couple of week ago when I toured the old auditorium inside Montgomery City hall for a CBS-8 story. But I did take this rather blurry cell phone shot from the balcony looking down to the stage, which is packed with shelves of old records. An eerie place for sure!.

    The City is fixin'---not quite restoring---the old place and the City Council will be meeting there, probably starting in 2012.

I did have my camera with me for a walk this afternoon, and captured this view of the Trinity Presbyterian Church on Hull Street, Senior Executive Editor Jay C. suggested it be posted, and when the SEP says do it...

The flowers are on a Tulip Tree, usually the first to bloom each year here in Montgomery.