History is an interesting teacher. Looking back at the Kennedy-Nixon debates people pretty much agree that Nixon won on the issues, but Kennedy won the hearts of enough voters to win -- with a little help from the media who made him look good while ambushing Nixon. Nixon's makeup job was bad and he looked like he had five o'clock shadow. It would be interesting to review the TV coverage and see how lighting, camera angle, etc. were used during the debate.
Why am I bringing that up? Because a Hollywood director started a blog comparing the Obama/Gibson interview with the Palin/Gibson interview. It's a fascinating piece of work showing how lighting, camera angle, position, etc. make Palin look weak against the dominant Gibson. This is media bias, of course, but from the sneaky school. Can you see the backroom meeting at Good Morning America?
Charlie: Let's see. I have to be careful in my interview not to be too aggressive because if our bias is too blatant it will damage Obama. Hey, Joe (cameraman), what can you do with camera shots to make Palin look bad?
Joe: Hey, I'm your man. We got lots of ways: angle, position. I'll take care of it.
Charlie: Jane (lighting), how about working with Joe on this. I'm sure you have some lighting tricks that can help make the point that she's a dumb brunette unfit to be next in line for the presidency.
Jane: You got it, boss.
Charlie: Kay (editor), I'll need your help too.
Kay: Sure, Charlie. You want waffle? weak? shifty? I can do 'em all. We'll make her look like the idiot she is. Damn! It'll be fun.
Charlie: I trust all you guys to make sure this interview loses votes for the McCain/Palin ticket. Let's roll.
Is this far-fetched? In view of the Atlantic Monthly scandal over Jill Greenberg's photo manipulation, I'd say it's downright understated. I'm sad, though. I used to like Charlie Gibson when he was a host on the morning show. Since he took over as an anchor, his bias is just too blatantly obvious. Gosh, next it'll be Robin Roberts.
For the real dope on media bias visit the Media Research Center. They have a section on the trashing of Sarah Palin. All this liberal hysteria to discredit Sarah Palin, sure makes her an attractive candidate.
This is the same type of filming that was done in Germany under Hitler. There is an old documentary called 'Selling Murder' or something similar, that showed parts of film, scripts, lighting, etc. Children, many retarded, were shown as grotesque. Then a nice man in a white lab coat would face the camera and tell how, if these children were his, he would like to help them out of their plight. This euthanasia film was shown to college students. Later, a movie was made with the same theme. Seems as though putting strong lights under the "victim" is an old trick.
ReplyDeleteNixon refused makeup for that famous debat and yes, he often had 5 o'clock shadow. But he was also recovering from an illness that made him look gaunt and was obviously uncomfortable.
ReplyDeleteSorry to burst your bubble. There was no massive liberal conspirasy to make Nixon look bad.