Obama Decides To Stop Staging White House Photos

[Donnachaidh]

http://jezebel.com/5801474/obama-decides-to-stop-staging-white-house-photos

This week the White House announced that it will stop the decades-old practice of reenacting speeches for the benefit of photographers. This comes as a surprise, mainly because most of us didn't realize the photos we see of presidential addresses are about as authentic as The Hills.

After his televised address on the death of Osama bin Laden, President Obama walked out again and re-read his speech for the benefit of five photojournalists, as he always does after a major speech. The Associated Press reports:

The practice of re-enactments has a long history. Washington veterans say President Harry Truman would deliver speeches over radio and then repeat them for newsreel cameras. Doug Mills, a photographer for The New York Times who was on duty May 1, said he has seen every president from Ronald Reagan to Obama take time after a speech so still photographers could get their shots.

This only became an issue when one of the photographers, Jason Reed of Reuters, wrote on his blog that the President "re-enacted the walkout and first 30 seconds of the statement for us." The captions from each photo agency made some note that they weren't taken during the original speech. For example, Getty says, "U.S. President Barack Obama stands after addressing the nation on TV from the East Room of the White House to make a televised statement May 1, 2011 in Washington, DC." However, the Poynter Institute found that 30 of 50 newspaper front pages that used the photos, "implied or strongly suggested it was an image of the live address."

More at the link --

[frazzled]

1. On one hand, I can see why they restage the speeches for photo-ops

It's amazingly loud and chaotic when the press corps is flashing off all those bulbs. I would think they wouldn't want that happening during the course of a serious speech.

[razorman]

2. I don't have a problem with President Obama(or any president, for that matter) staging

these photos, as long as the public is informed that they are staged, and not pictures of the actual event.