The attempted assassination of Donald Trump on July 13 produced some of the most iconic images in the history of photojournalism. They captured the former president's defiance and instinctive showmanship moments after he was nearly killed by a sniper's bullet—face bloodied, fist raised high, an American flag waving overhead. The journalists who took those photos, under extremely chaotic circumstances, deserve all the awards.
Alas, the same can not be said about the "multiple photographers" who spoke to Axios and "worried privately" that the Trump campaign would use the images as photographic propaganda, or "photoganda," in order to "further their agenda." In other words, they're concerned the photos might help Trump win an election because they don't trust voters to think for themselves. These alleged journalists insisted on anonymity "for fear of losing future work."
One of these idiots, clandestinely described as a "photo editor and photographer from a major news outlet," scolded rival photo editors for overusing the most striking photo of Trump from that day, an objectively awesome scene captured by veteran AP photographer Evan Vucci. The privately worried journalist said it was "dangerous" for media outlets to keep sharing the photo "despite how good it is," because it was like giving "free P.R. for Trump."
What is wrong with these people? We get it, you think journalism is about so much more than taking great photos and reporting the facts. It's about "safeguarding American democracy," which means stopping Trump from winning elections or, if not Trump, then any Republican because actually they're even worse than Trump. In fact, they're a "much more dangerous virus" than Trump, in the words of CNN analyst Van Jones. Just make sure the Democrats win, OK?
This mainstream media impulse to ignore or actively withhold information (or imagery) that could help a Republican or hurt a Democrat, is why President Joe Biden, 81, is about to be formally nominated for reelection despite his obvious cognitive deficiencies. Many journalists thought it would be "dangerous" to tell the truth about Biden's condition because it would hurt his chances of beating Trump. They assumed voters were too dumb to notice Biden's decline, and might never notice unless a journalist pointed it out to them.
Journalists are the worst. They still haven't figured out that the only people who trust them or care what they say are other journalists. They keep telling themselves that Biden is losing because journalists haven't done a good enough job explaining to voters why they shouldn't be upset about inflation because the overall economy is actually good, according to experts. Notwithstanding their best efforts to help Democrats, even Joe Biden is attacking them now for not helping him enough. They've even started to attack each other for not doing enough to stop Trump.
Good. They deserve everything that's happening to them.
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