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Posts Tagged ‘Protest’

‘Disgraceful propaganda’: Fox News under fire for misleading images from Seattle protest zone

16 Jun
A screenshot of an altered photo shared by Fox News, which has since been removed from its website.

Fox News is taking heat after publishing a digitally altered image and a misleading photograph last week in its reporting on Seattle’s Black Lives Matter protests in Seattle, Washington.

Last Friday, Huffington Post reporter Michael Hobbes shared a set of pictures that shows Fox News clearly composited an image of a person carrying a rifle over two photographs of Seattle’s Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone (CHAZ). While the editing job is far from subtle if you look closely – note the lighting discrepancies between the backgrounds and the gun-wielding subject, as well as the extra area of red between his torso and left elbow – the fact the same individual was used in two separate images makes it clear this was a post-production job.

A Fox News spokesperson provided the following comment to Seattle Times:

‘We have replaced our photo illustration with the clearly delineated images of a gunman and a shattered storefront, both of which were taken this week in Seattle’s autonomous zone’

It appears that there are weapons in the autonomous zone, but as The Seattle Times notes, even Fox News’ follow-up statement is misleading, since the photo of the armed man was taken on June 10th in the Capitol Hill neighborhood while the wrecked storefront image was captured in downtown Seattle, back on May 30th, according to metadata provided by Getty Images.

Photojournalism ethics expert Kenny Irby told Seattle Times in response to the posting of the altered images, ‘I think it’s disgraceful propaganda and terribly misrepresentative of documentary journalism in times like this, when truth-telling and accountability is so important […] There is no attribution. There is no acknowledgment of the montage, and it’s terribly misleading.’ National Press Photographers Association (NPPA) executive director Akili-Casundria Ramsess also told The Seattle Times it was ‘completely egregious to manipulate this the way they have done.’

In a reply to Hobbe’s post on Twitter, Seattle Times Editor Gina Cole responded with a screenshot showing Fox News also shared an article under the headline ‘Seattle helpless as armed guards patrol anarchists’ ‘autonomous zone,’ shake down businesses: cops’ with a photo of an individual running through the streets with a burning car in the foreground and a burning storefront in the background.

However, the image Fox News featured with the article was taken not in Seattle this past week, but two weeks ago, 1,650 miles away in Minneapolis. It was taken by AP photographer John Minchillo, during the Black Lives Matter protests in Minnesota’s capital, as noted by Suki Dardarian, Senior Managing Editor & VP of Minnesota’s Star Tribune. Meanwhile, Seattle’s protests remains largely peaceful, and SPD has apologized for repeating the groundless claim that local businesses had been ‘shaken down’.

Note the creation date on AP Image’s website: May 30, 2020 05:13:07 PM

In response to the criticism, Fox News took down the images and shared the following statement on Saturday in the form of an Editor’s Note at the end of the article:

‘A FoxNews.com home page photo collage which originally accompanied this story included multiple scenes from Seattle’s ‘Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone’ and of wreckage following recent riots,” the note read. “The collage did not clearly delineate between these images, and has since been replaced. In addition, a recent slideshow depicting scenes from Seattle mistakenly included a picture from St. Paul. Fox News regrets these errors.’

This isn’t the first time Fox News has been caught altering images or sharing misleading images under unrelated headlines. But it’s not the only offender. CBS was caught this past April using video footage of an Italian hospital while reporting on the COVID-19 pandemic in New York City. CBS apologized at the time for what it called an ‘editing mistake’.

Editor’s note (June 15, 2020): A previous version of this article incorrectly stated it was CNN that was caught using incorrect video footage in April — it was in fact CBS. The article has been updated accordingly.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Sony World Photography Awards receives backlash over alleged censorship of Hong Kong protest images

20 Feb

Update (Wednesday, February 19th): it appears that the galleries are available to the public again. However, Chung Ming’s more sensitive images are not displayed.

The 2020 Sony World Photography Awards recently removed active links to images from three separate finalists due to their ‘sensitive nature.’ Ko Chung Ming’s Wounds of Hong Kong, David Butow’s Battleground Hong Kong and Adam Ferguson’s Hong Kong Protestors series are still in the running to win an award. However, links to their work have been deactivated on the World Photography Organization’s (WPO) website, a move that’s raised concerns about possible censorship.

‘We have temporarily taken down the images as part of a standard process which we have to put in place for these type of cases, until we are able to review everything in further detail,’ the WPO said.

Chung Ming first noticed the link to his series, which was nominated in the Documentary category, was broken on Friday. Initially he thought it was a site error. It was only when he tried to view Butow and Ferguson’s series, and received the same ‘404 Page not found’ message, that he realized the WPO was purposely concealing imagery that revealed the brutal reality of the Hong Kong protests.

“We have temporarily taken down the images as part of a standard process which we have to put in place for these type of cases, until we are able to review everything in further detail.”

‘I don’t know who’s complaining and what their concerns are. But why should any ‘concerns’ not be addressed by the judges at the judging phase?’ asked Chung Ming in a response to HKFP. ‘As long as the final result is up to the jury’s professional judgement, I wouldn’t say there’s censorship,’ he added.

As of Tuesday, the ‘404 page not found’ error was still popping up on Chung Ming’s series. On Wednesday, the link was redirected to a ‘Protected Page’ where login credentials were needed in order to view his work. A recent post on Chung-ming’s Facebook account elicited uniform comments of disappointment in the WPO.

‘Photos taken during a war right in the war zone has won numerous awards, but I’ve never seen any of those labeled “sensitive nature.” Anyway thanks so much for your effort and your truthful recording.’ said Sam Si. ‘Worse and much more “sensitive” stuff has been put on WPO before, and the fact that they’re on targeting Hong Kong related photography seriously calls into question the integrity of the organisation.’ adds Galax Chen.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Capitol Hill photographers asked to delete protest images, claim journalists

27 Jul
Photo by Phil Roeder, licensed under Creative Commons

Journalists photographing a protest in the US Capitol building report that they were told by Capitol Police to delete photos and videos of arrests. The events unfolded yesterday in the third floor Senate wing of the building as demonstrators protested the vote that would begin an effort to repeal the Affordable Care Act.

As police handcuffed and removed protestors from the hallway outside of the Senate chambers, journalists were reportedly told by police to stop taking photos, and were instructed to delete photos and videos they had captured.

Official policy for press in the Senate Gallery states that photography is indeed prohibited in that area. However, the ACLU spoke up to remind press that police may not force anyone to delete a photo or video without a warrant, no matter the circumstances.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Still Life with Smoke Bombs: Artist Live-Paints Berkeley Protest Violence

19 Apr

[ By WebUrbanist in Art & Street Art & Graffiti. ]

This past Saturday, Trump supporters and counter-protesters from the left clashed violently in liberal Berkeley, all while one intrepid street painter captured the scene live on canvas. As reporters filmed and photographed the chaos, John Paul Marcelo biked his mobile painting station into place.

The alt-right rally organizers and their opponents arrived ready for a brawl, variously equipped with shields, helmets, wooden poles, pepper spray and other weapons. “By mid-afternoon,” reports Blake Montgomery, “the dueling protesters were screaming insults at each other over a flaming pile of trash and using a dumpster as a battering ram.” In the end, dozens were arrested on both sides.

But in the midst of the mayhem (or at least: slightly off to one side) was perhaps the most unexpected sight of all — Bay Area street artist John Paul Marcelo standing his ground and calmly painting the chaotic scene as it unfolded before him.

Marcelo is a fixtures of the San Francisco community, a fifteen-year resident who can be found painting ordinary street scenes as well as timely and tragic still lifes, like: a building just after a fire, burnt out and abandoned.

His artistic gear collapses on demand, folding neatly for transportation by bike to events unfolding in around the Bay or calmer, more everyday still-life subjects (below: Morning on Broadway and Telegraph in Oakland as seen in Cafe 817).

John Paul Marcelo studied graphic design and advertising, then started painting the urban decay of Chicago streets and decided to “reject modern technological mediums” and “paint exclusively en plein air, and migrate to the majestic California coastline.” And although he reports being “very content with painting existing idyllic scenes like Big Sur and Marin, past expeditions have brought him to places like post Katrina New Orleans and Cabrini Green housing projects.” His influences “include Claude Monet, James Nachtwey, and Ai Wei Wei.” (Images via AP, SfGate & KQED)

Blacking Out BLU: World-Famous Berlin Mural Erased in Protest

A huge multi-building work of art has been painted over in the Kreuzberg neighborhood of Berlin, reportedly at the behest of the artist BLU himself as a reaction to the clearing of an adjacent …

Balancing Act: Artist Paints Seaside Murals from a Surfboard

Painting a hyper-realistic mural outdoors is challenging enough on its own, and artist Sean Yoro not only pulls off incredible portraits, he does it all while balancing on his surfboard. Known as …

Beyond Beautification: Brazil Art Project Paints All the Things

Brazil is no stranger to paint-based urban interventions, of  whichRio de Janeiro is frequently the focus, but the scope and scale of this project in particular truly boggles the …

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Art of Protest: Student-Built Scale Model of $20 Billion ‘Bailout City’

17 Aug

[ By WebUrbanist in Art & Sculpture & Craft. ]

hypotopia city imag

After the Austrian government spent €19,000,000,000 to bail out a bank in 2014, a student group in Vienna created a giant urban model of a place Hypotopia in protest. This visionary city for 100,000 people represents a place that could have been built with the money used to rescue the Hypo Group Alpe Adria banking group.

hyptopia entry path

The city of Hypotopia is and will remain a Utopian fantasy, but represents a novel form of protest – a way for it to take physical form and convey a visceral sense of lost possibilities. This (quite literally) walkable city was opened to the public, allowing people to inspect it in full detail.

According to Lukas Zeilbauer, “while Utopia stands for an ideal fictitious world, ‘hypo’ is a Greek word meaning under, beneath or bellow – so a change coming from the bottom, from the folk.” While fictional architecture has been used by niche practitioners for polemical purposes throughout history, it is rare for such a large-scale, full-city effort to be driven by political motivations.

hypotopia view

Students from the Technical University of Vienna designed and created the model city in Karlsplatz, a central city square, building it over the course of four months. Were it to be built, it would be the sixth largest city in Austria.

Construction of the model was aided by businesses who donated building materials, including wood and concrete blocks, carted in wheelbarrows to the site and assembled according to a predetermined computer model.

hypotopia at night

The public received the project with great enthusiasm, as the majority of citizens did not agree with using taxpayer money to bail out the bank in question.

Meanwhile, the makers of the model did more than just create a miniature mock-up: they actually ran the math and calculated the cost of construction, from architecture to infrastructure, making room and accounting for everything … except big banks, that is (images by Armin Walcher).

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Blacking Out BLU: World-Famous Berlin Mural Erased in Protest

14 Dec

[ By WebUrbanist in Art & Street Art & Graffiti. ]

blu middle finger black

A huge multi-building work of art has been painted over in the Kreuzberg neighborhood of Berlin, reportedly at the behest of the artist BLU himself as a reaction to the clearing of an adjacent tent city and plans to build condos next to (and with views of) the mural.
blu-black-alternating

In the course of painting the walls black, a hand was temporarily left in place with its middle finger up (as shown in the first image above) – this aggressive gesture can be interpreted as a broader commentary about gentrification in the neighborhood or a specific reaction to the residential project next door.

As with any controversial act, this whitewashing (or black-washing as it were) has drawn both praise and criticism. On the one hand, it can be viewed as an attempt to fight development and change, but it also represents the destruction of an iconic work and arguably an act of egotistical self-sabotage.

The mural itself was originally created in 2008, with part of its progress captured in the timelapse video above. It was, from the start, a commentary on economic and social justice as well as gentrification – now it is again, perhaps, but in a different way.

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Painting as Protest: Rainbow Stairs Spark Guerilla Reaction

30 Sep

[ By WebUrbanist in Art & Street Art & Graffiti. ]

painted steps art image

It started with a single person painting one public staircase, but when city workers of Istanbul, Turkey covered this brightly-colored street art with dull gray paint, citizen activists picked up brushes in rapid response. Thus escalated an isolated incident into a quiet but powerful city-wide campaign mixing politics, graffiti and beautification.

painted staircase silent protest

Aged 64,local  retired engineer Huseyin Cetinel spend reportedly $ 800 on paint simply to make the steps in his area more attractive – he notes that nature is colorful, and suggests simply that cities can be as well.

painting stairs newspaper story

As images of his work began to go viral online, many viewers saw it as a call for equal rights – a political statement. When the municipality painted the original stairs over (then initially denied doing so, adding to the confusion), that act was perhaps inevitably interpreted through a polarizing lens as well.

painted steps reaction political

Twitter and Facebook were awash with calls to color other sets of stairs around the hilly city, and a quiet war fought with guerrilla art began … the city whitewashing (or gray-painting) newly-colored staircases as people kept on recoloring them, before finally agreeing to let the steps be painted as the citizens wished.

As interviewed by the New York Times, local financial adviser Nalan Ozgul sees a larger lesson in these events: “There has been some movement in the society, a social uprising together with the Gezi Park protests, and this is just an extension of that spirit. The fact that the government-run municipality first denied having painted over the stairs, then agreed to paint them back in color, shows how desperate and indecisive they are about their policies.”

painted art guerrila action

Alternatively, perhaps this strange story shows the everyday tensions between ordinary people and relentless bureaucracies as much as it says anything  about the activist citizens and imposing governments of a particular time and place, but the effects are certainly colorful no matter how you look at them (Images via Instagram photographer sumrue and Twitter users @durmusbeyin, @demishevich, @verbikerem and @ozgelu)

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Artscape – Poets of Protest – Mazen Maarouf: Hand Made

20 Jan

Palestinian Mazen Maarouf was raised in Lebanon, and recently forced into a double exile in Iceland after criticising the Syrian regime. We follow him from Reykjavik to Paris as he works on the translation of his third poetry collection into French.
Video Rating: 5 / 5

Album: Panopticon [2004] Post-Metal, Atmospheric, Post-Rock, Sludge, Experimental, Avant-Garde 1. So Did We [0:00 – 7:30] 2. Backlit [7:30 – 15:14] 3. In Fiction [15:14 – 24:12] 4. Wills Dissolve [24:12 – 30:59] 5. Syndic Calls [30:59 – 40:39] 6. Altered Course [40:39 – 50:37] 7. Grinning Mouths [50:37 – 59:04] Panopticon is the third full-length album by Los Angeles, California based post-metal band Isis, released by Ipecac Recordings in 2004. The album’s title is derived from philosopher Jeremy Bentham’s panopticon prison ideal and philosopher/historian Michel Foucault’s later allegorical appropriation of the concept. The liner notes also include quotes from technology writer Howard Rheingold and futurist Alex Steffen; as a concept album, Panopticon’s focus is on the proliferation of surveillance technologies throughout modern society and the government’s role in that spread. Critical response to Panopticon was generally very warm; as it followed 2002’s critically acclaimed Oceanic, many reviewers were quick to hold the two in comparison. The consensus was that Panopticon represented a progression, of sorts. The album’s sound continued Isis’ departure from the strictures of sludge and metal — which had been the hallmarks of their earlier material — and continued along the trajectory of post-metal, achieved by heightened use of melody and clean vocals. Band members Jeff Caxide — bass guitar Aaron Harris — drums Michael Gallagher — guitar Bryant Clifford Meyer …
Video Rating: 4 / 5

 
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Artscape – Poets of Protest – Manal Al Sheikh: Fire Won’t Eat Me Up

19 Jan

Poet, editor and activist Manal Al Sheikh says it is now lethal for her to be a writer in her home town of Nineveh, Iraq. We follow her as she prepares a new poem for a public reading, in Norwegian.
Video Rating: 4 / 5

 
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