See below for updates on this post, including the paper’s amended caption.
If you didn’t know better, you’d think this photo in the Los Angeles Times shows the Israeli flag provocatively flying over the Dome of the Rock.
Seen from Mount Scopus, the distinctive golden Dome of the Rock, one of Islam’s holiest sites, stands out in Jerusalem’s walled Old City on Nov. 3. (Jim Hollander / EPA)
Fortunately, photographer Jim Hollander wrote a fuller caption explaining what you’re seeing at the European Pressphoto Agency web site. But how many LA Times readers bother clicking there?
Seen from Mount Scopus the distinctive golden Dome of the Rock, one of Islam’s holiest sites, in Jerusalem’s walled on city stands out as sun hits it during an otherwise grey and rainy day, 03 November 2014. Behind the dome is a very large Israeli flag flying from the roof of an apartment building in the Jewish Quarter of the Old City. Jordan’s King Abdullah vowed that Jordan would oppose any attempt by Israel to change the status quo of the holy sites in Jerusalem, and particularly on the Temple Mount, or the Hareem el-Sharif (The Noble Sanctuary). The King said, ‘The ground in Jerusalem is soaked with the blood of our dead. The holy city has been entrusted to us.’ EPA/JIM HOLLANDER
It’s debatable whether trompe l’oeil photography (literally, “a trick of the eye”) is appropriate photojournalism. The point of the composition is to make it appear that unrelated objects are interacting. Here, that would be the flag “on top of” the dome. Left unexplained, a photo like this could represent the worst fears of a lot of Arabs. All the more so on social media, where images divorced of their captions go viral all the time.
In that regard, the photo has to be judged on its own.
I’m not accusing of Hollander of deliberate deception. His original caption’s perfectly transparent, so the next step in the media chain — the editors at papers like the LA Times — were put on notice.
It’s on those local editors to both responsibly select appropriate images and make sure the photo’s necessary information trickles down to the readers in the caption.
I wouldn’t have chosen this particular image to go with Batsheva Sobelman’s dispatch. But once this photo was selected, the editors should have explained to readers what they’re looking at. That’s two bad judgement calls.
Jerusalem’s tense enough. We don’t need irresponsible LA Times editors making the situation worse.
UPDATE 11/5: Splendid. Now the photo’s on BBC.
UPDATE 11/6: The Beeb removed the photo, while LA Times amended the caption to read:
Seen from Mount Scopus, the distinctive golden Dome of the Rock, one of Islam’s holiest sites, stands out in Jerusalem’s walled Old City on Nov. 3. Behind it, a large Israeli flag flies atop an apartment building. (Jim Hollander / EPA)
The BBC changed it’s mind about the photo after catching flak from readers. A Beeb spokesman told the Jewish Chronicle:
“We realised quickly that the picture could be misunderstood and misrepresented, and given the sensitive nature of the story, we updated it with a different picture.”
