Image provided by the New York Post and AP
The uproar over the New York Post chimp cartoon reminded me of the protests and death threats following cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed in European newspapers several years ago.
What these scandals teach anyone involved in the visual business is the power of the image. We will not get into the politics of these cartoons but explore the amped-up feelings these images spur and how they push a visual journalist to be responsible for their content. You have to consider not just what you think what your images invoke but how others might react. Specifically, others that do not share your cultural and socioeconomic norms.
I watched a news program last night where the cartoonist of the chimp piece felt the animal in the cartoon was not representative of President Obama but more likely that of House Speaker Pelosi. Now whether that is credible is for others to debate, but here an artist aims for one thing when a large swath of the country reads another meaning into his work. Perhaps he should have been more aware before he picked up his pencil just as you, a visual journalist, need to be hyperconscious of what you’re representing before you press record. — Michael Barnes
