On July 13, Donald Trump survived an assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania. It led to an iconic image of the former president, who had just escaped death from a would-be assassin, perched less than 200 yards from the stage, raising his fist in defiance, face bloody, telling his supporters to “fight.” It’s become a viral sensation. It’s also made some media photographers and editors queasy because—get this—it could hurt Biden and give “free PR” to Trump.
You can’t make this up. They’re afraid to do their jobs because it could hurt the Democrats. This is precisely what’s wrong with the industry and what the late Andrew Breitbart referred to as the “Democrat-media complex” (via Axios):
30 of the top 50 local news websites featured the historic photo, or a very similar shot, from AP's Evan Vucci of a defiant Trump raising his fist in the air on their homepage Saturday evening.
Meanwhile, national outlets like the Washington Post and the New York Times featured pictures from their own photographers, Jabin Botsford and Doug Mills, on their homepages. The NYT's Mills took the incredible photo of a bullet whizzing by Trump's ear that's gone viral online.
[…]
The big picture: With only a limited number of outlets attending the rally, many national newsrooms also had to rely on reporting, video and photography on the ground from a few major outlets.
Yes, but: The overuse of the same photos, eyewitness videos and reporting from the ground can also pose risks.
Multiple photographers worried privately in conversations with Axios' Aïda Amer that the viral images from the rally could turn into a kind of "photoganda," with the Trump campaign using them to further their agenda despite the photographers' intent of capturing a news event.
A photo editor and photographer from a major news outlet said the "amount that publications have been using Evan's photo is kind of free PR for Trump in a way, and it's dangerous for media organizations to keep sharing that photo despite how good it is."
“Photoganda” Are these people serious? Not that it needs to be rehashed, but this attitude is why you guys got thrashed for not doing your job when it came to reporting on Joe Biden’s rapidly deteriorating condition. You didn’t want to hurt the Democrats, which was the primary motivator. No one believes the Biden staff guardrails or fear of losing access reasons. Losing access is a concern, but it’s also not an excuse not to do your job. Nothing is kept secret for long in Washington, so anyone with cognitive function roundly rejected this veil of impenetrable secrecy excuse the media doled out concerning their coverage of the Biden White House.
Axios: a "photo editor" at a "major news outlet" suggests media should bury the photo of Trump raising his fist because it's "kind of free PR for Trump in a way, and it's dangerous for media organizations to keep sharing that photo despite how good it is." pic.twitter.com/pLcrLi6mnH
— Peter J. Hasson (@peterjhasson) July 16, 2024
Journalists trying to convince other journalists to stop spreading photos from a major news event because it would hurt Biden politically, nbd. https://t.co/6fPQx8I3Ic
— Sunny (@sunnyright) July 16, 2024
The photos we took can hurt Biden and the Democrats, so we shouldn’t use them. Yes, let’s smother history to feed our political bias. Such a corrupt and sad group of people.