BAGnewsNotes

Upcoming

As a program note, I will shortly be taking my first break since last year.  For the week of "Semana Santa," I'm going south, and I'm leaving my computer behind.  Not to worry though.  I have composed a series of eight posts, titled "Since November," looking at particular images from the past few months, several keyed to the mid-term election and the power shift in Washington.  In that stretch, I leave the site -- which I'm more than happy and comfortable to do -- in your trust. 

I'll be away from the 31st through the 8th (hoping that nothing overly newsworthy breaks while I'm gone).  When I return, I've got many things planned, including new original content from all my contributers, as well as a first in the blogosphere: a four day, on-line exclusive exhibition of Alan Chin's photos from Campaign '04, with real-time curatorship, narration and commentary from Alan, his colleagues and special guests, and most of all, you. 

Once again, thank you so much for all your encouragement, thoughtfulness and participation in our ongoing project.  I'm more confident than ever about what we're doing and where we're headed.

-- Michael Shaw

The Prestige

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Political advisers have had a hand in picking judges and prosecutors for decades, but Mr. Rove exercises unusually broad influence over political, policy and personnel decisions because of his closeness to the president, tenure in the administration and long-standing interest in turning the judiciary to the right.

In terms of visual suggestion, it doesn't get much better. 

I thoroughly enjoyed this shot of Karl Rove doing a rap skit (if you can believe that!) at the Radio and Television Correspondents’ dinner Wednesday night.  Married to a NYT article yesterday detailing Rove's role in hiring and firing United States attorneys, we get a wonderfully imaginative composition of the two Karls.  Simultaneously, we experience "front and center" Karl, known for being smug, loose and playful in the spotlight, in tandem with "behind the scenes" Karl, wielding that magic hand behind his back, helping catch and toss those attorneys, and causing the right wing judiciary to flourish. 

The problem for Karl, though -- as the photo also relates -- is that that magic hand has suddenly caught the spotlight, too, illuminating the strobe effect of ugly partisan intrigue.

(image: Jonathan Ernst/Getty Images.  March 28, 2008.  nytimes.com)

Captured

This is the pic the NYT offers in its latest piece on the Britain-Iraq standoff.  Tony Blair is said to be lashing out at Tehran.

Besides an old and worn looking PM, the hopeless, downcast faces behind (not to mention the headless trio beyond that) seem to well capture the near-total exhaustion of Blair's moral and political authority.

(image : Reuters.  caption: In London, Prime Minister Tony Blair called the seizure of the British crew “completely unacceptable, wrong and illegal.  March 29, 2007. newyorktimes.com.)

On Notice

Yesterday, before I saw this sequence of images, I was admiring the way the Dems, and Nancy Pelosi, in particular, have finally begun exploiting Bush's greatest weakness.

With the White House - Congressional war over Iraq now fully engaged, Pelosi hit Bush earlier yesterday with what, for him, is pure Kryptonite.  If you check out this video clip of Pelosi urging Bush to "calm down," you'll identify that weapon as temperance.

It's not that we haven't seen examples of a hostile Bush having all kinds of trouble keeping his attitude in check (example 1, 2).  What's more recent, however, is that Bush no longer has to get worked up to impress a tone of belligerence.  At this point, the Dems (and his "brand change weary" Iraq campaign) are more plainly revealing Bush as the perpetual militant.

So touché to Nancy for killing with kindness -- and for driving it home at last night's Radio and Television Correspondents Association dinner with this fantastic "we've got our hands on you!"

And one more reference to add.  The shot of Nancy in Bush's ear is almost reminiscent of "My Pet Goat."  In this case, however, what seems to have hit the terminally stubborn and consequently off-guard Bush is the growing perception of this war as an elective one -- and the fact he's got another opponent out there he's been seriously underestimating.

By the way, this shot of Laura and Nancy last night, "split" by a color guard and singing the national anthem, also speaks to the strides Dems have made in neutralizing Bush's  PR exploitation of patriotism and the military.

(image 1,2, 4 & 5:  Jason Reed/Reuters.  image 3: Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP. Washington March 28, 2007. via YahooNews.)

War You Say?

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I love how the White House photo gallery offered Laura Bush as the picture of innocence at Tuesday night's USO dinner in D.C.  In her speech (in recognition of her receipt of the 2007 USO Service Award), Mrs. Bush patronized American troops wounded in Iraq, and even managed to highlight the IED reference and a plug for Walter Reed. used the USO as a foil to defend the treatment of war wounded at military hospitals, such as Walter Reed, and also reinforce the deadliness of (those supposedly Iranian-made) IED's.

With the Administration on the verge of confrontation with Iran, however, this harder-edged A.P. shot seemed to more closely approximate the current mood.

(Revised for content.  6:27 pm EST)

(image 1: Shealah Craighead/White House.  March 27, 2007. Arlington, Va. whitehouse.gov.  image 2: Haraz N. Ghanbari/AP via YahooNews.)

C BS Does Chapel Hill

Why did this screen shot suddenly appear in the YahooNews John Edwards newswire thread yesterday?  Could it have something to do with that autistic excuse for an interview Katie Couric conducted with the Edwards this past weekend?

As the photo selected by CBS, itself, to lead its story of the interview, its a fair piece of data with which to symbolize the encounter.

As I read it, Mrs. Edwards' shoulders are tensed and she looks slightly strained and on-the-spot, while locked in a confrontational gaze with Couric.  John Edwards, his eyes trained hard on the interviewer, his characteristic smile upside down and his head slightly cocked (in a gesture that mirrors his wife's), looks doubting and dubious as well.

As for Couric, she is positioned in the middle of a vestibule or hallway (they're in Las Vegas, perhaps just inside a suite?) so that the Edwards, close to the wall, have limited room for movement.  It's hard to read Couric's expression, but I wouldn't call it friendly.  Instead, it's more of a troubled look, her hands positioned as if pressing forward and working away at something.

Given the firestorm of criticism over the interview, the network is now in full damage control mode.  The CBSnews blog, for instance, posts a statement from Edwards saying he felt the couple was treated fairly.  (But then, what else would you expect the presidential candidate to say?)  At the same time, the blog links to a codependent post at Columbia Journalism Review reframing Couric's MSM-standard "shame game" approach to the technique of "playing devil's advocate."  (Okay, so the couple -- having just discovered Elizabeth Edwards is terminal -- suddenly requires a network anchor, desperate for ratings, to take apart their defenses.)

Of course, the cheapest way to respond -- from their faux blog -- is just to blame the 'sphere.  In this slap, National Correspondent Bryon Pitts resorts to the "pajamas" strategy, writing:

"...Katie wasn't simply asking questions stacked on a sheet of paper, but asking questions that she once had to ask herself as her husband battled cancer. Since the interview aired I've run into sky cabs, cabbies, housekeepers, and a host of others all talking about "Katie's interview." (Granted these aren't people who 'blog' all day, they actually work outside.) Some thought she was right on, others thought she was way off...."

(That's quite an act of denial, using Couric's loss of her own husband as an excuse, then leaving the final judgement about her attitude to the common man, considering the furious reactions to the piece registered by Couric's own readers on the 60 Minutes site.)

My favorite blogospheric reaction, by the way, was this take by Taylor Marsh.  My ears are still burning.

Image: AP Photo/CBS . March 25, 2007. Las Vegas.  via YahooNews.  Note: image was slightly enlarged and sharpened by The BAG.)

Pictures As Projectiles

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This photo accompanies a NYT story this morning analyzing how the Pentagon developed its case charging Iran with providing roadside bombs to anti-American Iraqi Shiites.

The BAG's question is, is the NYT once again shilling for the government in its anti-Iran campaign, and using its photo coverage to back it up?

Today's story is written by Michael Gordon, who also wrote the February 10th article for The Times ("Deadliest Bomb in Iraq Is Made by Iran, U.S. Says") detailing the Government's case that Iran is producing highly lethal EPD's or Explosive Penetrator Devices. (It was Gordon, by the way, who worked side-by-side with Judith Miller in "exposing" those aluminum tubes as part of the build-up to the U.S. Iraqi invasion.)

A key piece of evidence in the latest article is that trucks have been intercepted "within a few miles of the Iranian border, carrying copper discs machined to the precise curvature required to form the penetrating projectile."  That's all well and good, but it doesn't take into account the WSJ report (via TPM Muckracker, with photo), of the discovery, late last month, of a "makeshift factory" in Southern Iraq manufacturing devices with the same configuration, including the copper disks.

Which brings us back to the photo.

In February, the visual aspect of the story consisted primarily of government-issued handouts of devices components (BBC photo gallery).  Is it possible today's shot, however, far from indicting the discs in question, more specifically illustrates the role of The Times as staging partner in this specific, almost two-month long promo campaign?

(image: Robert Nickelsberg/Getty Images, for The New York Times.  February 2006.  nytimes.com. caption: American soldiers displayed parts of weapons, known as explosively formed penetrators, after finding them last month in a Shiite village near Baghdad. The copper liners in the foreground become projectiles when the explosive devices are set off.)

Envisioning Gulf War III

Given the current standoff involving the British and Iranian navies in the Persian Gulf, I was just interested in the relative perspective of these two current newswire photos.

(The HMS Cornwall, pictured above, is the ship that lost the 15 sailors to the Iranians.) 

Hopefully, everybody had a place to sit.

(image 1: AFP/file. image 2: Essam al-Sudani/AFP.  Via YahooNews)

You Can't Can Can't Go Home Again

With the Administration trying to squeeze every ounce of propaganda out of "the surge," why the help?

The article, "Reclaiming Homes, Iraqis Find Peril Still at Door," in Friday's NYT, gives the impression the so-called surge is allowing Iraqi's displaced by sectarian violence to return to their homes in Baghdad.  Based on the headline and the first nine paragraphs, you would surely believe the momentum is shifting, if slowly, back toward a more civil, pluralistic society.

Not till you get that far, however, does U.S. military and Iraqi government wishful thinking end, and descriptive facts begin. 

Your Turn: Chapel Hill

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Given the shocking and incredibly sad news of Elizabeth Edwards' advanced cancer, as well as the overt collision it causes between personal and political/ media identity, I was interested in your thoughts on these newswire images.  They were taken Thursday in Chapel Hill during the couple's announcement that John Edwards' presidential campaign would continue.