Day 307 – I’d like to make my own mind up, please.

I was just scrolling through some news stuff yesterday and found this image of Donald Trump by [checks notes] Samuel Corum for the New York Times last August:

Religious iconography on fleek. Very clever.
And a lesson for anyone who has a fancy eagle light on their office wall.

 

Anyway, compare and contrast that with this:

Well halo there.

Equally clever stuff by Mr Reuters in getting Joe in front of the Presidential seal (it’s a symbol, not a marine mammal). Clearly deliberate and clearly echoing Renaissance depictions of saints:

Also equally religiously iconographic, but very much batting for the other side.

Look, I’m with you. Trump was awful. Is awful. And don’t get me wrong, I love both these photos, and they both demonstrate high quality, thoughtful photography. But just because Donald was bad, certainly doesn’t mean that Joe is a saint, and I’d like a bit of time to make up my own mind about President Biden, please.

Time without having your subliminal messages thrust upon me, Reuters.

That’s Reuters, whose Trust principles say that they:

require independence, integrity and freedom from bias.

And yes, I know how it works: you licence all their content, but you then only share the photos and articles that you choose and that suit your narrative or fit your story, but this image was actually part of a Reuters tweet:

Which makes me feel a little awkward about just how independent their journalism is on this particular subject.