Slanting the story ... in pictures.

It's the little things that count.

Ever notice that the images of people accompanying their stories are a reflection of the way the story is slanted?

Here's a picture of the City Manager of Bell, CA, who was pushed out of office after earning nearly $800,000 per year in this small, poor community.
I'm sure that this man, with his 800 grand salary owns a suit and there's probably a picture of him wearing it, but that would not illustrate the contempt for this crook nearly as well.

Then there's the vendetta the Virginian Pilot has against Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli. Cuccinelli is everything the Pilot's editorial staff hates about Conservatives: he's an activist in an area where the only permissible activism - in the Gospel according to the Pilot - is Liberal. So there is some subtle, but critical things that the Pilot does with Cuccinelli's official picture. It crops it and lightens it. It makes him look ever so subtly like a washed out nerd.

Pilot photo]
[Official photo from the state government website]

Why show more of his necktie and less of his hair? Why lighten the image? The picture forms part of the Virginian Pilot narrative.

The reason I raise this point is that I have never personally met Cuccinelli. But I saw him on TV yesterday being interviewed standing on the Capital steps. He's an impressive looking man. But people who get an image of Cuccinelli from Pilot would never know it.