CNN's latest war porn images
by digby
Can you see the problem with the following images?
I knew that you could. Those images are from other countries. There are no ISIS fighters taking to the streets of Oxnard waving their ISIS flags. And most people surely know that on a conscious level. But by telling these stories of American threats with this footage they create a scary, subliminal image in the minds of Americans who are watching, especially those who are only halfway paying attention, which is most of us.
I seem to recall some alleged journalistic ethic from the dark ages that said you must never use images which are not directly related to the story you are telling. Now, it's true that in the screen shot at the top, it says "Syria" in small print, but that doesn't get them off the hook. All day long they had "experts" from a remote location calling in to talk about this story in exactly the same way they might have a correspondent on the phone talking from a battlefield. The whole thing was set up to look as if ISIS had invaded the United States.
Again, people certainly understood on a conscious level that this was not the case. But subconsciously, these images are now associated with a threat to America. CNN was telling a story with those images but it wasn't a news story it was a fantasy, one designed to titillate its audience. Turn the sound off when one of these stories comes on and you'll understand the plot they're selling.
.
