Category Archives: Blog Post #4

Blog Post 4: Seeing Through Race

I agree with Berger’s stance on photography associated with the U.S. Civil Rights Era because there will always be a bias in photography when the person behind the camera chooses what they want to see and not the whole picture. Their eyes see what is in front of them. Their brain  rationalizes it as an image worthy of capture and then they decide to take the picture. They can make the call to turn a blind eye or better yet not submit pictures.

Adding onto the art of selective journalism, editors are needed. Now these editors can decide what to remove, include and implant through each article. Such phrases, objects, reactions from the crowd, and etc. As long as people can choose what they want you to see there will always be a bias narrative and above all an unexpected outcome of the general public.

Blog Post #4

Newspaper and magazine editors are selecting the photos to publish that depict black people as victims and succumbing to white violence as opposed to them fighting for their rights because they want everyone to see what is actually happening to black people and how terrible they are treated because of their race. Although I agree with Berger and how the media tends to show more of black people as victims, I think death would give more attention to everyone more than to show black people protesting unfortunately. It is important to show everyone how much white people are treating black people, it is also very powerful to see photographs of black people uniting together to stand up for themselves and their rights.

blog post #4

I quite agree with Martin Berger’s argument that the media tries to portray Black Americans as victims instead of standing up for their rights. Usually, black people were oppressed by society, which was shaped by news, TV, or magazines. Many of black people’s photos were taken and published by people who held the power (journalists/photographers). These journalists/photographers have the ability to filter, pick and share stories/photos to publicity. Whatever they choose to publish, the world acknowledges them. I think this is one of the biggest reasons that in the past black people usually played the victim role in society. However, the incident that happened to George Floyd has changed the position of many black people. They protest, express their feeling, and don’t want to be oppressed anymore. The world looks up to them as people who stand up for their rights, not the victim like in the past. Time changed, the way that people seeing has changed also.

 

 

Blog Post #4

I agree with Bergers argument. I am a witness as well as everyone else on social media of black people being portrayed as victims rather than standing up for their rights. In magazines and newspapers white people make it about themselves to portray an image of power rather than portraying both black and white sides of the story. It’s truly a sad conception that these photographers have created. They have made people believe through the years. that this is how it should be. They conditioned people to this way of life. All this does is hurt our world and continue to support racism.

Blog post 4

I would say what Martin Berger said about how black people are portrayed is true. I do agree that how the media shows African Americans is either being victims, vulnerable or trying to get the rights they deserve. There’s always going to be media’s that show white people how black people are always sectionized, always trying to have something to speak up for, then leading to massive protest and marches just to receive decency in our society.

 

Blog Post #4

I agree with Martin Berger’s claim on how the media uses photographs to make black people victims of whites, as that has been used throughout history. This can be found throughout the introduction section, where Berger references photographs from different historic points. Examples of photographs include the integration of Little Rock Central High School in 1957, sit-ins performed at segregated lunchrooms in the early ‘60s, and a photograph showing the Freedom Riders with their bus wrecked in 1961. I can see why the press would do this, probably because to make white people that are sympathetic and viewers of the media could see this and learn to be equal to blacks and treat them fairly.

Blog Post #4

Berger’s argument about the media influence on African-Americans is fairly accurate and I agree with him.  The media always tries to portray African-Americans only a certain way. Editors try to appeal to white people majority of the time. During protests, the media show people of color as victims and not them fighting for what they deserve. Not only that, they don’t show how they come, which is in peace.

Blog Post 4

I agree with Berger’s argument that the media focuses on what catches the attention of white audiences. Berger states how black protestors succumbing to white violence was more common to see than black led political action. Media only shows what white audiences would like to see. Berger also states how the media could not assuage the racial anxieties of whites without affecting the depiction of blacks. This shows that the media does not want to show black people standing up but rather them being victims.

Blog Post #4

In the introduction “Seeing Through Race”, Martin Berger tells us that newspapers and magazine editors selected photographs based on their perceived power to draw out their white readers. He also says that white power over black helped make the images nonthreathing to white people. However, I believe that there are some white people who are against racism and injustice, for example there were many white protesters supporting black lives matter after the killing of George Floyd. I agree that most of the editors were mostly likely to use photographs of black people as victims and standing for their rights because all images of violence tend to be more attention getting and marketable.  

 

Blog Post 4

I agree with what Berger stated. Black people have suffered for a very long time. In the early days, they were powerless to stand up for themselves because they were always a target of something. In today’s society, when the people of color try to stand up for themselves, it turns into something more drastic where there are protests which most times leads to arrest. Some white people still have the mindset that blacks are inferior to them. So when they become a victim of something, it would be more likely to portray that, in contrast to them displayed in the media by standing up for what they believe in, having a voice, and succeeding at it. People of color struggle to have rights in society because racism is still alive today.