UPDATE at end of post: Atlantic editor responds.
Media watchers are well-aware that it's not only words that can be used to spread propaganda, but oftentimes it's the pictures involved in the articles.
For months, people around the country have been noticing the always flattering photos of Barack Obama, and, by contrast, pictures that make John McCain either look older than what he is, or sickly...or even worse.
On Friday, the photography website PDNPulse published a virtual exposé about a professional photographer that admitted taking an intentionally diabolical looking picture of McCain that she hoped would be on the cover of October's Atlantic magazine (emphasis added throughout, photo courtesy The Atlantic, h/t NB reader Drew Hallowell):
When The Atlantic called Jill Greenberg, a committed Democrat, to shoot a portrait of John McCain for its October cover, she rubbed her hands with glee.
She delivered the image the magazine asked for—a shot that makes the Republican presidential nominee look heroic. Greenberg is well known for her highly retouched images of bears and crying babies. But she didn’t bother to do much retouching on her McCain images. “I left his eyes red and his skin looking bad,” she says.
However, that's not the picture Greenberg hoped the Atlantic would use:
After getting that shot, Greenberg asked McCain to “please come over here” for one more set-up before the 15-minute shoot was over. There, she had a beauty dish with a modeling light set up. “That’s what he thought he was being lit by,” Greenberg says. “But that wasn’t firing.”
What was firing was a strobe positioned below him, which cast the horror movie shadows across his face and on the wall right behind him. “He had no idea he was being lit from below,” Greenberg says. And his handlers didn’t seem to notice it either. “I guess they’re not very sophisticated,” she adds.
Here's the picture she wanted The Atlantic to use (courtesy PDNPulse):
Fortunately, they didn't. However, Greenberg, given her known political leanings, thinks it was wrong for The Atlantic to use her for this assignment:
I am a pretty hard core Democrat. Some of my artwork has been pretty anti-Bush, so maybe it was somewhat irresponsible for them [The Atlantic] to hire me.
Just how irresponsible? Well, if you go to Greenberg's website, which she calls "The Manipulator," and continue to hit your refresh icon, you'll see some truly disturbing pictures of McCain, along with some truly disturbing captions.
These include one that says, "I Called My Wife A C*** In Front Of Reporters," and another that was discussed in the PDNPulse piece:
[S]he goes on to explain that she’s thought about replacing McCain’s mouth with bloody shark teeth and displaying the image on a billboard with the message that the candidate is a bloodthirsty war monger.
Keep on hitting refresh at the front page of her website, and that picture will appear.
And this is the woman The Atlantic hired to take a picture of McCain for the cover of its October issue.
Isn't that special?
*****Update: NBer CyberNorris has found a website that has Greenberg's disgraceful McCain pictures.
*****Update II: The Senior Vice President of the public relations firm that represents The Atlantic sent me the following e-mail message Sunday (with permission):
Following up on your post about Jill Greenberg’s photos of John McCain, I wanted to share the following statement from James Bennet, editor of The Atlantic:
“We stand by the respectful image of John McCain that we used on our cover, and we expect to be judged by it. We were not aware of the manipulated and dishonest images Jill Greenberg had taken until this past Friday.
When we contract with photographers for portraits, we don't vet them for their politics--instead, we assess their professional track records. Based on the portraits she had done of politicians like Arnold Schwarzenegger and her work for publications like Time, Wired, and Portfolio, we expected Jill Greenberg, like the other photographers we work with, to behave professionally.
Jill Greenberg has obviously not done that. She has, in fact, disgraced herself, and we are appalled by the manipulated images she has created for her Web site of John McCain."
*****Update III: NBer CyberNorris, who warned us about a really disgusting picture at Greenberg's website, has now found it and added it here. Readers are warned to proceed with caution. This final picture is REALLY vile.
—Noel Sheppard is the Associate Editor of NewsBusters. Follow him at Facebook and Twitter.
Editor at Large
Comments Policy
I wonder why the October
September 13, 2008 - 17:12 ET by ThisnThatI wonder why the October issue is so important here. Hmmmmmm??
___________________________________
If you can read this, thank a teacher. If it is in English, thank a Soldier. - My barber
McCain Picture
September 14, 2008 - 09:36 ET by kiwikitThe image it gives me is of STRENGTH. I'd have him as President any day.
Subversive is a better word,
September 13, 2008 - 17:14 ET by d1carterSubversive is a better word, Noel...
Noel
September 13, 2008 - 17:19 ET by MrShyForget the photo... which, yeah, is none too flattering.
"WHY WAR IS HIS ANSWER" ???
Ugh. Man, liberals are such soulless manipulators when it comes to their thirst in framing what Republicans are for the masses.
NOW PLAYING:
Governor Palin Get Your Gun
"WHY WAR IS HIS ANSWER"
September 13, 2008 - 17:31 ET by motherbelt"WHY WAR IS HIS ANSWER" ???
I'm just surprised there isn't a sub-head No matter what the question!
I expect nothing less from
September 13, 2008 - 17:24 ET by bigtimerI expect nothing less from the people he was dealing with, and why deal with them in the first danged place...
Oh well, never-mind...I don't want to go there, we all have different viewpoints on this..
"America isn't the problem...America is the solution." ~ Rush Limbaugh
The most important question
September 13, 2008 - 17:32 ET by TEThe most important question that needs to be asked about this is: Who the hell are the blithering idiots who would have McCain sit for photographs for the Atlantic? The Atlantic?!!! McCain? People with his campaign? Do those people not know who the hell the Atlantic is? What's next? Will the McCain campaign have McCain sit for photos for a MoveOn.org ad? The Huffington Post? A New York Times spread? The Nation? Time magazine? Newsweek? The Associated (with terrorists) Press? ABC, NBC, CBS, PBS, CNN? MSDNC? Did McCain and his aides think that the Atlantic would publish flattering photos of him? Are they that naive?
Hi TE... We posted around
September 13, 2008 - 17:41 ET by bigtimerHi TE...
We posted around the same time..we also seem to agree. (I'm right above you)
GMTA and all that jazz.
"America isn't the problem...America is the solution." ~ Rush Limbaugh
Ummm, the Atlantic is no TNR or Harper's
September 13, 2008 - 18:48 ET by magicalangelicusSorry, I'm a regular reader of the Atlantic...it is generally a center/soft-left mag, usually fair and objective...one of the few...notice that they didn't choose the worst shot and that they asked for a "heroic" picture. Of course, I would like to know why this photographer was selected...
very good manipulation, yourself
September 13, 2008 - 17:33 ET by nicholas nicklebyHi Noel,
I don't disagree with anything you say here, but I'll note that you did a bit of your own manipulation here, and quite well: your title, along with the cover of the magazine next to it, makes it seem like the picture on the cover of <i>The Atlantic</i> is the "intentionally diabolical" picture.
Why didn't you title this post "Atlantic refuses to publish intentionally diabolical photo"?
Because the photo they
September 13, 2008 - 17:50 ET by BDBecause the photo they selected was nearly as bad. Low side lighting, harsh.
Obama would likely be made to seem angelic in comparison.
"Lib Photographer Admits
September 13, 2008 - 18:09 ET by Indiana Joe"Lib Photographer Admits Making McCain Look Sinister for Mag Cover"
She took the photo as part of a shoot for the mag cover. She put it in the group of choices for that cover. She admits she purposely made him look "sinister," hoping they would pick that one.
So, "Lib Photographer Admits Making McCain Look Sinister for Mag Cover" seems to cover those bases admirably. Just rearrange the bold points in the preceding paragraph, and it's pretty clear.
Sans manipulation.
"... smells like... victory." - Robert Duvall
Smike
September 13, 2008 - 18:25 ET by Noel SheppardSmike,
Well, I would have preferred to use the picture she wanted above the fold. However, my options were either WAY too large -- as in the one I used below the fold -- or WAY too small.
Pictures in the teaser above the fold are tricky because we want them all to be about the same size for aesthetic reasons. If I had "shrunk" the one from below the fold to fit above, it might have caused loading problems for readers. So, in this case, I chose to use the Atlantic cover in the tease, and explain to the reader what the photographer would have preferred in its place.
Believe me, I would have preferred to do it the other way: show her choice above the fold, and theirs below. That said, I think I made it perfectly clear in the text that the diabolical picture was the one below the fold. Furthermore, as to your suggested title, the piece was about the photographer NOT the magazine...or did you conveniently miss that? :-) ns
Noel,
September 13, 2008 - 18:32 ET by Indiana Joe"Smike?" Who is "Smike?" I thought it was Nick. Now I'm confused. ;^)
IJ
"... smells like... victory." - Robert Duvall
I was wondering same thing
September 13, 2008 - 18:40 ET by bigtimerI was wondering same thing here..didn't want to ask, thought it was a personal thing...glad you did IJ.
"America isn't the problem...America is the solution." ~ Rush Limbaugh
BT and IJ
September 13, 2008 - 18:54 ET by Noel SheppardBT and IJ,
Smike is an important character in Dickens' "Nicholas Nickleby." When "our" NN posted a comment to one of my previous articles -- one that I thought rather addle-minded -- I asked if his SN should be "Smike" for what will be obvious reasons (from Wiki):
Sorry to confuse you. :-) ns
Noel,
September 13, 2008 - 19:03 ET by Indiana JoeNo problem. If I got upset every time I got confused... well... umm... I'd be upset a lot, I can tell you! Pathetically unread in Dickens. ;^)
IJ
"... smells like... victory." - Robert Duvall
Hey thanks Noel...you just
September 13, 2008 - 19:02 ET by bigtimerHey thanks Noel...you just taught me something more.
"America isn't the problem...America is the solution." ~ Rush Limbaugh
Hey Joe...
September 13, 2008 - 19:30 ET by sjanus11Notice the fire is lit.......LOL Try and have fun, cause I don't know if you saw last night I was in a rage and misinterpeted and still picking crow feathers out. I know this stuff makes ya crazy, but if we do not fight back...............we lose, Glad your pounding away, Just take a break now and then for your sanity, My wife makes me LOL Steve
"If your 20 and not a Liberal, You have no Heart. If you are 40 and not a Conservative, You have no Brain" Sir Winston Churchhill
ah, aesthetic reasons
September 14, 2008 - 10:55 ET by nicholas nicklebyHi Noel,
You certainly don't owe me an explanation for the way NewsBusters is run, but thank you for this. (Next time you run into this dilemma, if you have PhotoShop, you could change the resolution of the too-big picture, which would shrink it to NB-standard size and not cause loading-time problems. Other imaging programs could probably do this, too, but I'm most familiar with PS.)
I have noticed that the style of NB (with more information below the fold) sometimes (not always) puts assertions (in the title and first paragraph) physically away from evidence (below the fold). I'm not arguing that this is manipulative, only that it may sometimes mislead people who don't have time to read everything below the fold. For instance, in this one, maybe this was just me (because of the TB, I don't get enough oxygen sometimes ::cough cough::), but when I read the "above the fold" part I naturally associated the hit-job photograph with the magazine cover, and would have continued doing so except I decided to read on. But you're right, the rest of the piece does make it perfectly clear that the nosferatu photo below the fold was the hit-job.
As for whether this is a story about the unprofessionalism of a Democratic journalist or the professional tact of the Atlantic, it seems to me that the evidence you provide here means that it's a story about both--a biased individual is prevented from spreading her bias by a dead-tree magazine, part of the MSM. You could associate this with the troubles around Olbermann over at MSNBC and write an article suggesting that perhaps the MSM is coming to its senses--maybe not all at once, but in bits here and there. But I certainly am not going to defend the Atlantic.
Shades of Al Jazeera and
September 13, 2008 - 17:33 ET by JerryShades of Al Jazeera and the Green Helmet Guy's staged photos. What's next, photo shopped fangs and a swastika tatoo?
“He had no idea he was being lit from below,” Greenberg says. And his handlers didn’t seem to notice it either. “I guess they’re not very sophisticated,”
Uhhh.. that's because most people expect PROFESSIONALISM from people who are supposed to be professionals, not immature, sophmoric, hit jobs.
When asked if he went to war with Iraq to derail the impeachment vote: “I don’t think any serious person would believe that any President would do such a thing." - President Clinton (Dec 1998).
Ah...
September 13, 2008 - 17:33 ET by FAQsSo that's why Andrew Sullivan still has a job. He isn't their only partisan moonbat.
Don't buy the mag's.
September 13, 2008 - 17:38 ET by ScrapironThe Lame Stream Press is down the tube since conservatives have quit buying the slime papers. Quit buying the Mag's and they will follow the press down the tube. Most liberal votes come from welfare riders and blacks (90% + of them on welfare) and they don't buy mag's since most of them can't read past the 4th grade level. A vote for Hussein is a vote for someone with the understanding of this country and the world of a 4th grader so they vote for their equal. Actually most 4th graders know more about the country than Hussein.
Old, Retired and glad of it.
Not Suprising
September 13, 2008 - 17:47 ET by tonyflo04So many of the kooks, crooks, and liars were calling the late Tony Snow a modern day Joseph Goebbles, but man the MSM is really taking a page from them and doing it one better. I hate that in other message boards I am called a nazi for my troubles, but the way the left is acting...wow. I am so angry at the MSM that I get overheated at them when they spew their verbal diarreha. Just for my trouble my extended family, who is minority like me, calls me the facist traitor for my troubles.
images also here
September 13, 2008 - 18:36 ET by CyberNorrisYou can see many of the images here:
http://www.imagebam....
She took down the one of the monkey urinating and defecating on McCain before I thought to screencap it.
CN
September 13, 2008 - 19:05 ET by Noel SheppardCN,
Are you serious about the monkey picture, or making a joke? Anyway to find it cached somewhere? ns
monkey picture
September 13, 2008 - 21:30 ET by CyberNorrisYes, earlier in the day she had an image up with a monkey urinating and defecating on top of McCain's head. Apparently she had enough sense (or counsel) to pull that one. Sorry I didn't screencap it.
CN
September 13, 2008 - 22:35 ET by Noel SheppardCN,
Wow. Man, I wish I had that one. Any way to find it cached somewhere? ns
Look in a mirror
September 14, 2008 - 05:55 ET by pabargeIf you have a real hankering for a horribly ugly image, one that will make the urinating monkey pale in comparison, take a gander at yourself in a mirror.
»→ pabarge
September 14, 2008 - 06:15 ET by Cool ArrowInasmuch as I predict this is your last post here, I bid you farewell.
"Us white folk will take care of you" - Barbara Walters
"Happy Traa-iils to
September 14, 2008 - 09:33 ET by Indiana Joe"Happy Traa-iils to you..."
"... smells like... victory." - Robert Duvall
Sent request to Atlantic
September 13, 2008 - 18:58 ET by magicalangelicusAs a subscriber of the Atlantic, I sent them a request for explanantion regarding their photographer choice. I'll keep you all posted should I hear a response...
"[S]he goes on to explain
September 13, 2008 - 20:15 ET by BuxomAnnieMcGreggor"[S]he goes on to explain that she’s thought about replacing McCain’s
mouth with bloody shark teeth and displaying the image on a billboard
with the message that the candidate is a bloodthirsty war monger."
OK...I get it now. Picture this if you will. Young Jill Greenberg at age 8, sitting in the principal's waiting room with mummy. She knows how to get on mummy's good side because she has heard over and over from mummy that Richard Nixon was a bad and evil man. She asks mummy for a pen, and then proceeds to draw fangs, devil horns, waxed mustache, etc. on a picture of Richard M. Nixon on the cover of TIME magazine. Mummy declairs young Jill has real talent and and quite a wit.
Now zoom ahead 40 years or so. Jill's "tools" have become more sophisticated and high tech.... but her psyche is low tech and suffering from arrested development. She's forever waiting for someone to give her a pat on the head and an Oreo Cookie.
Please grow up Jill Greenberg.
"We retort..... you decide."
Why would anyone agree to be photographed by her after this?
September 13, 2008 - 20:15 ET by TheCynicI hope word gets out to politicians and celebrities that if she is your photographer, take a pass. She's given up on fundamental journalism integrity and her career should now be forfeit.
If she wants to earn money, she should take up a job that requires no personal integrity.
Although I can't think of what that might be.
Cynic, Funny you mention this?
September 13, 2008 - 20:35 ET by upcountrywaterHere's Ann on a time cover.
Ann Coulter time cover ajusted
Hay, John & Sarah:
Have a photo ready for these magazine folk. They don't want to use it, then it's no photo, cover story.
CLIMATE CRISIS
IranianUranium
Magazines can mess with others' photos too
September 13, 2008 - 21:43 ET by nkviking75That's not a bad idea, but remember than these magazines can also change photos they haven't taken. The campaign needs to be prepared to point out these little tricks.
When you put the clowns in charge, don't be surprised when a circus breaks out.
She's not a journalist and,
September 13, 2008 - 21:32 ET by CyberNorrisShe's not a journalist and, to my knowledge, has never pretended to be. She is a talented studio photographer who has quite a good reputation in Hollywood and NYC.
Huh
September 13, 2008 - 21:37 ET by TheCynicWell maybe she HAS found the one job which requires no integrity.
Just make sure she likes you on a personal and political level before you let her take your photograph.
As a professional
September 13, 2008 - 22:18 ET by CyberNorrisAs a professional photographer, I take offense at the idea that the job requires no integrity. I believe she has just found herself in the unique position to create completely original, over-the-top, ultra-lib, wacko crap.
The lesson to learn from this ... insist that any model release include a clause such as this:
Model hereby releases and agrees to hold harmless Photographer and those acting under his permission, from any liability by virtue of blurring, distortion, alteration, optical illusion, or use in composite form whether intentional or otherwise, that may occur or be produced in the taking of the pictures, or in any processing tending toward the completion of the finished product, unless it can be clearly shown that the foregoing was maliciously caused, and produced, and published solely for the purpose of subjecting Model to conspicuous ridicule, scandal, reproach, scorn, and indignity.
IMHO, she has crossed the line from satire to libel.
Why didn't this talented
September 13, 2008 - 20:42 ET by suzycreamcheeseWhy didn't this talented photographer *snicker* just stick a picture of Bela Lugosi up and be done with it?
I don't know.
September 13, 2008 - 23:09 ET by Scout FinchI guess because leftists put so much faith in images rather than deeds, I can see how some leftist photographer could find it amusing to not only photograph McCain looking less than at his best (or even playing sick games with him and his staff and making fun of them for not being very "sophisticated") but add some disturbing Photoshopped images to her website for all to see.
When I look at John McCain, I see a guy who suffered unmeasurable torture and pain, resulting in some physical deformaties and limited manual manipulation ("He doesn't even email!!!). So he's not Hollywood Handsome. But I trust him to be in command in the White House. And I trust him to be the guy who answers the phone at 3:00 am.
Scout, I agree, Plus I
September 13, 2008 - 23:20 ET by bigtimerScout, I agree,
Plus I know I am in the minority here, but that second picture that is supposedly so diabolic of McCain is one I would want to go ahead and put out there...it should at least aide with the don't mess with me attitude to the enemies around the world that we have...know what I mean?
For me, it is be careful what you wish for syndrome...and the msm are going to pay for all of this in the end...they are going to reap what has been sown.
"America isn't the problem...America is the solution." ~ Rush Limbaugh
Blood Belching Vagina
September 13, 2008 - 23:15 ET by Lee BoggsI Called Jill Greenberg a C*** in Front of My Wife
Bwaaa Haaaa Haaaa!!!!
September 13, 2008 - 23:27 ET by BuxomAnnieMcGreggorBwaaa Haaaa Haaaa!!!! ROFPMP!!!
"We retort..... you decide."
Gotta love liberal
September 14, 2008 - 02:04 ET by wiwfGotta love liberal passive-aggresiveness
The Rocky Mountain Collegian: Illustrating Idiocy
Classy. Looked through
September 14, 2008 - 03:19 ET by soulpileClassy.
Looked through her work.. none of it is very flattering to the subject. Very cold. Whoever chose her to take the pictures obviously wanted that kind of photo of McCain anyway.
Jill Greenberg - photos of child cruelty
September 14, 2008 - 06:01 ET by pabargeJill Greenberg is notorious for performing acts of cruelty on children and taking their picture as the children reacted.
Here is an example:
http://abcnews.go.co...
McCain's people should have known about this. Google baby, Google.
Jill Greenberg is sick,
September 14, 2008 - 07:10 ET by motherbeltJill Greenberg is sick, IMO.
And so are the "parents" who at the shoot and "were fine with it."
Greenberg should be ashamed of herself for using children to make political statements, and the parents, for submitting their children to this for either money or a few minutes of fame.
I would have had my kid out of there so fast, Greenberg's head would spin.
»→ FOX&Friends slaps Obama
September 14, 2008 - 06:36 ET by Cool ArrowCiting Boston Globe 2000 article documening McCain's physical inability to use a computer.
WAHOOOOO!
Good luck with "I wasn't making fun of disabled vets". At the very least, your campaign is incapable of diligent investigation.
"Us white folk will take care of you" - Barbara Walters
Intentional bias.
September 14, 2008 - 07:06 ET by Blogger Guy00001There is absolutely no doubt whatsoever that this is intentional. The leftist media have no shame, no sense of values, no idea of right or wrong. They consciously chose to portray McCain in the worse possible light. They know what they are doing. They are despicable.
Ms. Greenburg
September 14, 2008 - 14:31 ET by ItchyZCamera operator Ms. Greenburg is exactly right on one point. Whichever aides accompanied McCain on this endeavor must truly be nitwits.