One of the primary propaganda techniques used by politicians is to stage photos, especially in the Bush White House. The ideas is to put the President in the context of other visual imagery, be it Mount Rushmore or in front of a portrait of George Washington. The most famous is placing Bush underneath the “MIssion Accomplished” banner during his now infamous speech on the aircraft carries USS Lincoln that declared major combat operations over in Iraq. Ironically, the official photos from that staged event are now re-cropped on the White House Web site so that the banner is no longer visible.
As an exercise, I highly recommend going the White House’s site and looking at these photos of the President’s so-called war on terror (an overused term I thought had been discarded). For those working with students, it might be interesting to ask kids what kind of textless narrative the images create.
Recently a general complained that Bush’s visit to Walter Reed would just be another photo op. You can read the commentary at Crooks and Liars and this from Think Progress » Anatomy of a photo-op.:
Anatomy of a photo-op.
Bush at Walter Reed: “Journalists were allowed to take pictures and watch for only a few minutes before being ushered out, though not before Bush told photographers to take pictures of Sgt. Mark Ecker’s tattoo of a naked woman. Reporters were not allowed to interview patients in Abrams Hall, hospital officials said, citing logistics. The hospital instead made available two doctors, who spoke glowingly about the president’s visit and had no information to provide about the facility’s problems.” Bush wrapped up his visit an hour before the scheduled time.
UPDATE: “The president was not taken into the shut-down Building 18 yesterday but was shown a well-kept, empty dormitory room equipped with flat-screen television and desktop computer in Abrams Hall, where some Building 18 patients have been moved.”
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