David D. Perlmutter

The anatomy of a photojournalistic icon: marginalization of dissent in the selection and framing of 'a death in Genoa'

This study examines the case of a recent news ‘icon’, a celebrated product of photojournalism, Dylan Martinez’s so-called ‘death in Genoa’. The picture shows a scene moments before the death by police gunfire of a protester during the Group of Eight (G8) summit in Genoa in July 2001. The image was chosen by news and political elites as a metonym for the antiglobalization movement. Fitting into the typical characteristics and assumptions of the news icon, it served less to show what happened than to direct public gaze and interpretations to framed ‘meanings’ that, in this instance, marginalized a strike against authority by establishing ‘protestor violence’ as the news lead. The study highlights news photography’s interpretive role of historical events and their context and complexity.

‘Bullets as bacteria’ Television news magazines’ use of the public health model for reporting violence

Surveys of mass media content related to social violence suggest that it generally focuses on the individual, atomistic ‘act’ (e.g. the bang-bang car chase) rather than issues of cause and prevention. Yet, increasingly - but with controversy - doctors, health officials and activists have pushed for a ‘public health’ model of reporting news about crime and violence that looks at interactions between the victim, the agent of injury or death, and the environment in which the injury or death took place rather than viewing it in strictly individual terms. In this study of television news-magazine stories, we found a strong emphasis on episodic and personal stories, with minor allusions to greater social issues. The emphasis on entertainment seemed to negate any promised ‘public health’ angles. We conclude that the challenge for the public health model is to find ‘scripts’ that journalists deem to be publicly consumable and ratings friendly.

Counter-imaging: myth-making and Americanization in Israeli Labor Party campaign ads, 2003

For several decades, the United States has exported not only its particular definition of democracy to developing nations but also the style of modern televisual politics. As a result, the nature of televised commercials in election campaigns in many nations is designed by US-based, -trained or -inspired consultants. This article examines ads run in the 2003 Israeli elections by the Israeli Labor party. Findings show that the ads (a) are indistinguishable in style from American ads; (b) follow a particular American formula of counter-imaging, that is, creating images of candidates and parties contrary to stereotypes held by voters; and (c) obfuscate the actual issues that the embattled nation faced and still faces. The article thus argues that the ‘American–modern’ style of campaign ad damages substantive and constructive political communication in nations wrestling with intensely complex issues.

Re‐visions of the holocaust: Textbook images and historical myth‐making

The visual representation of “others”; or those not identified as part of mainstream European‐derived culture is an issue of historiography as well as one of current politics. This paper evaluates the World War II Holocaust of European Jews as it is depicted in a sample of visual images in United States secondary school history textbooks. It finds that the images are not oriented toward historical fact or complexity as much as to enact contemporary goals of societal unity. All the blame for the events is placed on stereotypical “Nazis.”; Absent are the culpabilities of other groups and nationalities and of persecution of minority groups in Western thought and tradition. The study also raises the question of how images can or should be used to heighten social consciousness and provoke public action.

Media Use and Disuse by State Legislators The Social Construction of Innovation

This study explores the adoption of new media among an elite, powerful group: state legislators. The case study investigates how five information sources are used by a sample of Louisiana state legislators to meet nine different information needs. These research questions were posed: (1) What roles do the various sources available to legislators play in helping them make voting decisions, and does the importance of these information sources vary with different information needs? (2) How does new information technology fit into the information sources state legislators use in making voting decisions? and (3) Do characteristics such as the officeholders age, tenure, and education influence how these information sources are used? The legislators in this sample indicate a preference for interpersonal communication channels, specifically statehouse insiders. They do not consider new media to be important sources for information. Their age, tenure, and education have little influence on how they use information sources.