The Power in Pictures

 Welcome back! I've done a lot of talking about audio media and written media, but now I wanted to shine the light on visual media. As I talked about in my post about Kennedy v. Nixon, visuals definitely play a part in how people view you as a candidate. 

Additionally, I would argue that it is important to how the public chooses their news sources. For example, when Hillary Clinton became the first nominated woman for a major political party, multiple news sources chose varying pictures to report the story. Some went with the obvious choice, a picture of her at the podium or waving to supporters. However, lots of sources chose to showcase photos of her husband, former president Bill Clinton, at the podium or waving to supporters.

While some could argue that they might have used Bill to familiarize Hillary with his supporters, I would argue that she is quite well known on her own and the for a story about her, a photo of her husband should not be at the focal point. 

There were even some sources who chose to put Donald Trump on the front of the story, rather than Clinton. This was most likely to showcase the rivalry between the two and our choices in the 2016 election. However, a story about her historical nomination should not have been overshadowed by her husband, nor whoever she was running against. 

This analysis should speak to news sources as a warning about what photos they choose to represent their stories. They could be influencing their general audience or the wider public without even realizing it. 

Source: https://nicoledahmen.wordpress.com/2016/08/26/visually-reporting-hillary-clintons-historic-nomination/