May 29 // May 24, 2017
The Pope, the President and the Picture(s)
Yes, we were kind of surprised, too.
We’re exhausted at Two Weeks Ago News. We’ve collected headlines and screenshots and numerous stories over the past two weeks or so that serve to remind the American people – and the world – that we have a leader in the White House who is unconventional (at best) and terrifying and dangerous (at worst), for our country and the rest of the world. The President embarked on his first international trip as the leader of the free world and God knows there was no lack of coverage of his statements and his behavior while abroad, coverage that points out his apparent deficiencies as a leader, a collaborative world partner and a respectful visitor and consequently stories about the way our country is being perceived on the world stage.
We grant you all of that. No question. But we don’t have the time or the staff (read: one person writing; one person tweeting) to cover the President’s itinerary in full. So admittedly, we’re choosing our coverage – just as the media does on a daily basis. And since we try to respond to the “outrage du jour” or “mocking du jour” we see on social media, our TWAN focus for this piece landed us in Vatican City to ask ourselves (as always) the following: Is this really true as presented? Do we care about it anymore?
So let’s all go back in a time a bit, okay? You no doubt saw the image in question. The one where Pope Francis looks like his puppy died? Or maybe like the President just murdered his puppy? We were as disturbed as anyone about that image. Upon meeting the President, this is the expression we see on the face of one of the most forgiving and inclusive people on the planet? Could that be true? Is that image representative of the visit they shared? We wondered.
Our exposure to Pope Francis has been through a series of positive, friendly, welcoming pictures, that show him as smiling and approachable. We also had the enormous good fortune to see the Pope during his trip to the United States a few years ago, and experienced his kind face and open smile in person. No doubt about it – the image we saw repeatedly shared on social media, accompanied by comments pointing out his dour countenance – was out of the ordinary for Pope Francis.
Or was it?
We have to give props to Time at this point, for making an effort to tell the story of a photo session and the images that come out of it. Just as the written coverage is created and distributed, every published image we see is selected, edited, and placed in front of us with purpose. We have no quarrel with that, as long as everyone seeing and responding to those photos understands that is the case. As Rod Stewart told us so long ago, every picture tells a story. And this was one of despair, sadness, and defeat – if you read the face of the Pope.
And just to be clear, this first image below is the one we’ve been discussing so far.
Surprised? So were we. The only image we saw of President Trump and the Pope was the second one, that looks remarkably similar to the same formal portrait taken with President Obama during his visit to the Vatican.
If you’d like to see other options and learn more about the meeting, the atmosphere of the room and the exchanges between the President and the Pope, we recommend the Time magazine article linked above. To view additional images and read some coverage that may not have made it to the twitter universe or to your facebook feed, click here. Or here.
Look, we get it. Delivering the news is a business. Businesses like to keep customers happy and serve them something they want to buy, over and over again. It would appear that almost no one is interested in a smiling Pope and President Trump image. So why bother seeking it, editing it and printing it? That’s not going to sell papers! That won’t satisfy viewers!
We also get that fact that President Trump seems to offer little more than more and more ways the news can show him as a narcissist and bully, by highlighting his misdeeds, inappropriate behavior and poorly communicated ideas. Maybe it’s just a battle of wills, and the President is counting on the fact that he can outlast the media. That he can shock us with his candor and surprising behavior for such a long time that the media will simply begin to see it as “business as usual” and give up on covering it. We hope not, for many reasons.
But if this Time magazine article shows us anything, it shows us the power of the media to create the story. Using images and words to craft the message you want to tell isn’t unprecedented. But it’s also not news; it’s an agenda. At the same time, we’re not advocating for propaganda or “spin” from the White House, either, just legitimate information. Is that too much to ask? Maybe so. But once again, we just want our news organizations to show us the depth and breadth of something. Creating the narrative for your own purposes while claiming to be an impartial news organization isn't possible.
Thinking people everywhere should be getting weary of it all. The policy-making news alone should be enough to provoke outrage all around, day in, day out. Let’s get back to that, shall we?
The Pope, the President and the Picture(s)
Yes, we were kind of surprised, too.
We’re exhausted at Two Weeks Ago News. We’ve collected headlines and screenshots and numerous stories over the past two weeks or so that serve to remind the American people – and the world – that we have a leader in the White House who is unconventional (at best) and terrifying and dangerous (at worst), for our country and the rest of the world. The President embarked on his first international trip as the leader of the free world and God knows there was no lack of coverage of his statements and his behavior while abroad, coverage that points out his apparent deficiencies as a leader, a collaborative world partner and a respectful visitor and consequently stories about the way our country is being perceived on the world stage.
We grant you all of that. No question. But we don’t have the time or the staff (read: one person writing; one person tweeting) to cover the President’s itinerary in full. So admittedly, we’re choosing our coverage – just as the media does on a daily basis. And since we try to respond to the “outrage du jour” or “mocking du jour” we see on social media, our TWAN focus for this piece landed us in Vatican City to ask ourselves (as always) the following: Is this really true as presented? Do we care about it anymore?
So let’s all go back in a time a bit, okay? You no doubt saw the image in question. The one where Pope Francis looks like his puppy died? Or maybe like the President just murdered his puppy? We were as disturbed as anyone about that image. Upon meeting the President, this is the expression we see on the face of one of the most forgiving and inclusive people on the planet? Could that be true? Is that image representative of the visit they shared? We wondered.
Our exposure to Pope Francis has been through a series of positive, friendly, welcoming pictures, that show him as smiling and approachable. We also had the enormous good fortune to see the Pope during his trip to the United States a few years ago, and experienced his kind face and open smile in person. No doubt about it – the image we saw repeatedly shared on social media, accompanied by comments pointing out his dour countenance – was out of the ordinary for Pope Francis.
Or was it?
We have to give props to Time at this point, for making an effort to tell the story of a photo session and the images that come out of it. Just as the written coverage is created and distributed, every published image we see is selected, edited, and placed in front of us with purpose. We have no quarrel with that, as long as everyone seeing and responding to those photos understands that is the case. As Rod Stewart told us so long ago, every picture tells a story. And this was one of despair, sadness, and defeat – if you read the face of the Pope.
And just to be clear, this first image below is the one we’ve been discussing so far.
Surprised? So were we. The only image we saw of President Trump and the Pope was the second one, that looks remarkably similar to the same formal portrait taken with President Obama during his visit to the Vatican.
If you’d like to see other options and learn more about the meeting, the atmosphere of the room and the exchanges between the President and the Pope, we recommend the Time magazine article linked above. To view additional images and read some coverage that may not have made it to the twitter universe or to your facebook feed, click here. Or here.
Look, we get it. Delivering the news is a business. Businesses like to keep customers happy and serve them something they want to buy, over and over again. It would appear that almost no one is interested in a smiling Pope and President Trump image. So why bother seeking it, editing it and printing it? That’s not going to sell papers! That won’t satisfy viewers!
We also get that fact that President Trump seems to offer little more than more and more ways the news can show him as a narcissist and bully, by highlighting his misdeeds, inappropriate behavior and poorly communicated ideas. Maybe it’s just a battle of wills, and the President is counting on the fact that he can outlast the media. That he can shock us with his candor and surprising behavior for such a long time that the media will simply begin to see it as “business as usual” and give up on covering it. We hope not, for many reasons.
But if this Time magazine article shows us anything, it shows us the power of the media to create the story. Using images and words to craft the message you want to tell isn’t unprecedented. But it’s also not news; it’s an agenda. At the same time, we’re not advocating for propaganda or “spin” from the White House, either, just legitimate information. Is that too much to ask? Maybe so. But once again, we just want our news organizations to show us the depth and breadth of something. Creating the narrative for your own purposes while claiming to be an impartial news organization isn't possible.
Thinking people everywhere should be getting weary of it all. The policy-making news alone should be enough to provoke outrage all around, day in, day out. Let’s get back to that, shall we?