A Yahoo photo slideshow of Ground Zero perfectly demonstrates the bias news agencies frequently insert into captions. Instead of just describing the photo, Yahoo included captions with partisan cheap shots unrelated to the image to score typical anti-War On Terror points (h/t NB reader Larry Jordan).
Out-of-place comments about waterboarding, the downturn in the economy and a criticism of Rudy Giuliani were captioned under photos of a smoking World Trade Center and Ground Zero rubble (bold mine throughout):
Slide 1: Early morning light illuminates the wreckage of the World Trade Center on September 25, 2001 in New York. The head of the CIA said Thursday it is uncertain whether the use of waterboarding, a form of simulated drowning widely condemned as torture, would be lawful if used today against Al-Qaeda detainees.
Story Continues Below Ad ↓Slide 2: (same photo): Early morning light illuminates the wreckage of the World Trade Center on September 25, 2001 in New York. CIA director Michael Hayden for the first time admitted publicly Tuesday that the agency had used "waterboarding," or simulated drowning, in interrogations of three top Al-Qaeda detainees nearly five years ago.
Yahoo used a photo of the “Tribute in Lights” to criticize Giuliani, which is, of course, the appropriate time to address his fatal command center decision:
Slide 21: The 'Tribute in Lights' shines on the skyline of lower Manhattan as the sixth anniversary of the attacks on the World Trade Center is observed in New York, September 11, 2007. A detailed 1998 New York Police Department analysis opposed the city's plans to locate its emergency command center at the World Trade Center but then-mayor Rudolph Giuliani's administration overrode the objections, The New York Times reported on Saturday.
This series of six photos perfectly illustrated how the media skew captions to drive home a specific message. In this case, Yahoo used photos of Ground Zero construction to make negative comments about the economy. The news agency started with different captions for each photo and then cut-and-pasted the same negative statement about the economy into each one. For example:
Slide 6: Workers rest during a lunch break at the Freedom Tower construction site on Jan. 25, 2008 in New York. Construction and factory workers have been especially hard hit by the meltdown in housing and other troubles in the economy. Spending on all construction projects by both private builders and the government fell by 2.6 percent last year, also an all-time low in records dating back to 1993.
This slideshow could have been better edited. Yahoo included several photos with no connection to the Ground Zero theme, just captions containing the words “9/11” or “ground zero” and seven images of architectural representations of the rebuilt WTC site. Between poorly selected photos and biased captioning, this Ground Zero slideshow did not reflect well upon Yahoo.
*photo AFP/file/Eric Feferberg
Lynn contributes to NewsBusters and can be reached at tvisgoodforyou2 A T yahoo D O T com (replace AT and DOT with “@” and “.” for the actual email)















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The good ol' enemy
February 10, 2008 - 16:38 ET by bigtimerThe good ol' enemy within...do the words ungrateful, filthy, leftist b*st#rd$ come to mind?
The agenda marches on....and on...and on....
And yet, the media, the
February 11, 2008 - 09:33 ET by motherbeltAnd yet, the media, the network news organizations,were not supposed to use Twin Towers footage, because it would be too "upsetting"? They airbrushed the intact twin towers out of a couple of movies, for crying out loud!! because it might "upset" people.
Well, I guess to Yahoo, it's OK to "upset" people if you're preaching against waterboarding, but not if you want to make people see the danger of Islamic extremism.
Why is it no one at Google or Yahoo ever
February 10, 2008 - 16:39 ET by Lame Cherryhas credit for the garbage they come up with?
All other media deems it mandatory and yet these online giants confiscate all work "as their own".
Perhaps the communists at the writers guild should unionize online writers at the giants.
Yes I mention that to really screw with these liberal giants as they are going to write liberal crap any way, but in this case we would know who the little trolls are to give them credit.
Come on unions.........unionize Yahoo and Google creators.
*HIC IACET ARTORIVS REX QVONDAM REXQVE FVTVRVS
Do you Yahoo?
February 10, 2008 - 16:55 ET by pocomocoA few weeks ago the founder of Yahoo appeared before a congressional committee to answer questions about Yahoo’s problems.
The man was a complete dolt answering few questions, but letting Yahoo’s council answer the questions posed by the congressional committee.
At the end, several committee members expressed their dissatisfaction over his unresponsiveness.
It would appear that Yahoo is more interested in politics than providing its customers a superior service.
A case in point is the fact that Yahoo uses the AP and Reuters for its news services which appear on its home page, two services that are politically biased and regularly put out discredited information.
Let’s hope Microsoft is successful in it buyout bid.
Poco... I heard this
February 10, 2008 - 17:06 ET by bigtimerPoco...
I heard this morning that Yahoo refused the bid by Microsoft.
Just thought I would throw that in.
bt, You are correct, but
February 10, 2008 - 17:32 ET by pocomocobt,
You are correct, but Microsoft may bypass the board and go directly to the shareholders.
It's just a too lucrative deal to pass up on their part.
poco... I see, I suppose
February 10, 2008 - 17:42 ET by bigtimerpoco...
I see, I suppose I should of thought that far ahead, after-all that is what counts in the end....priceless as they say.
Thanks
Gore - "go grab his ass" - "of course it's illegal"
February 10, 2008 - 17:06 ET by Gary HallWould not it just work a heck of a lot more efficently if the Bush administration could just say how it is, like the Clinton administration did, and the media left it alone.
Take VP Al Gore, for instance, with his view in support of establishing the US policy of extroadinary rendition (that's where we send them off to Egypt so they can really be tortured), and Clinton did set it up:
Why does this remind me of
February 10, 2008 - 19:16 ET by drillanwrWhy does this remind me of cheap "Product Placement" in the movies?
Now, had Rudy DARED to use the same pictures in one of his campaign ads ... Ohhhh lawdy! Look out!!!
When you men get home and face an anti-war protestor, look him in the eyes and shake his hand. Then, wink at his girlfriend because she knows she’s dating a pussy… ~ Attributed to General Tommy Franks
Irony Alert
February 10, 2008 - 23:37 ET by SupermanIt's interesting that they would show photos of Ground Zero during a story on waterboarding. Waterboarding has helped to prevent such an attack from happening again.