Coincident with the launch of the Obama administration, one thing I'm hoping for is a
greater progressive ownership in and of the "visual public sphere."

For too long, corporate media has been essentially turning out propaganda photos
in a tacit collusion with visually-savvy, Rovian political PR machines. And then, on
"the readership side," viewers have mostly lacked the incentive -- visual literacy being
as much a function of attention and curiosity, as anything else -- to "read" more deeply
 into what they are shown.

A few examples:

Photo from New York Times website

If Rudy Giuliani's 36-minute visit to the Segway plant before the New Hampshire primary
generated some great infotainment, what the media somehow missed was the reaction of the
rank-and-file pushed out of the way to get the photo op.

(click images for full size)
 

The two images above were taken by the accomplished photojournalist, Alan Chin, who was covering the
event (or more accurately, "covering the coverage," or the spin, or the spectacle of the event) for the progressive blog,
BAGnewsNotes. To get this more populist impression, Chin had merely to pivot 180 degrees away from "what he
was supposed to be photographing" -- something most newswire photographers, conditioned by corporate media
and special-interests, wouldn't dare think to do.