Does this photo array look strange to you?
Every day CNN runs these pictures in a post called "On The Trail," in which it provides the public schedule for each candidate. Every day this lineup of the four candidates appears, and has done so since just after Paul Ryan's selection as Mitt Romney's VP.
I'll just point out the obvious: the photos of Ryan and Romney are straight on images with each man smiling or at least, in Ryan's case, grinning. Joe Biden's is at an angle, and he's talking to someone off camera. Barack Obama is clearly scowling and looks like he's saying something negative, given his expression.
It's not that CNN using such a photo of Obama is unfair in and of itself. It could certainly be used with a story that details what Obama is saying as he's making that expression. But using that photo devoid of context, day after day, and side by side with Romney and Ryan smiling, that's what makes this collection unfair.
I'm not saying this reflects bias on CNN's part. I'm sure it doesn't. At least I don't believe this photo array reflects an intentional attempt to hurt the Obama campaign. But don't we think CNN could have found a photo of each of these guys that looks roughly equivalent in terms of their expressions? They could have used campaign-provided photos if necessary. Would that have been so hard? Impressions matter, and CNN here is using a set of impressions that appears day after day on its website that makes one side look more appealing than the other.
Given how hard the Romney campaign, Rush Limbaugh, and much of the right is trying to "other" Obama and/or paint him as an "angry black man" (Tim Wise yesterday provided a comprehensive catalogue of such attempts), CNN's photo lineup is the last thing we need.
6:08 AM PT: If you like send CNN a comment telling them what you think of this photo array.
PS-I certainly respect that some of you see the photos differently than I do. To me, the main question is why CNN wouldn't do what I'd consider the more journalistically sound thing, and just use very similar images of each of the four candidates. To keep the focus on that question, I've updated the title.