2008 Woodie Awards
Filter system needs to end in mainstream
Brian Fitzsimmons
Issue date: 4/24/08 Section: News
They always astonish me, mostly because they are resilient and perpetual with their optimism. There are actual figures in this world that try to crawl through the muck of politically edited journalism and succeed at eliminating the filter system, which corrupts the ceiling of society's knowledge- even if the success rate isn't as high as they'd like it to be.
That group is a precious bunch, dwindling before our blinded eyes. Sacred Heart was lucky enough to meet one of those people on Monday, when photojournalist Les Stone came to speak for a Media Studies sponsored event.
Stone has seen parts of the world none of us could fathom, through the lens of his camera for over 20 years. He's been to Havana, Cuba to cover religious events. He's been to the poverty-stricken outskirts of Russia and captured unspeakable sights relating to the misery of homelessness and alcoholism. He's frozen the moments in Africa, where the deployment of Child Soldiers and Conflict Diamonds soil many country's names. But most notably, the critically acclaimed photographer has chronicled the human cost of conflict in Iraq, Afghanistan, Israel, Kosovo, Liberia, Cambodia and Haiti.
Chilling images have surfaced from covering these horrific events, and mainstream media has ignored them. The burning question then presents itself: Why, in this time of technologic advancement and constant coverage, is the public deprived of viewing such eye-opening subjects?
We live in an age where technology is everywhere. The Internet has grown into a mammoth world of information and televisions can now receive over 800 channels. Regardless, such powerful representations are still ignored and it's time to start wondering why.
In the current state of war, we aren't able to see images of our fallen heroes' corpses, and it has caused the detrimental downward spiral of repetition in a media-driven world littered with unique occurrences. It's been said that people have already forgotten about the effects of Vietnam, and we're headed down the same path in regards to the current state. So bringing up the political staple, "If we don't learn from history, we're doomed to repeat it" wouldn't cause the stir we'd ultimately like it to.
The government controls what the media conveys to us, and some people are just numb the fact. Journalists are embedded with a sense of boundaries, and that's not the way such a profession can operate. What if horrific photos from the trenches of war were seen by our society? Would the war have gone this far?
"Absolutely, [this war] should've never started, but who knows," Stone said, of the idea. "We'll never know because of the information held from us."
It's unfair to blame a crisis solely on the government's chokehold on the media, but it's necessary to recognize that awareness would become more intensified if its tentacles loosened its grip.
Pondering how much such images matter can't begin until the manipulation ends. Right now, that seems it will end when the war does.
Stone's pictures, and the many others barely treading in the pool of blackballed media products, can tell a thousand words.
It's a shame we can't always listen.
That group is a precious bunch, dwindling before our blinded eyes. Sacred Heart was lucky enough to meet one of those people on Monday, when photojournalist Les Stone came to speak for a Media Studies sponsored event.
Stone has seen parts of the world none of us could fathom, through the lens of his camera for over 20 years. He's been to Havana, Cuba to cover religious events. He's been to the poverty-stricken outskirts of Russia and captured unspeakable sights relating to the misery of homelessness and alcoholism. He's frozen the moments in Africa, where the deployment of Child Soldiers and Conflict Diamonds soil many country's names. But most notably, the critically acclaimed photographer has chronicled the human cost of conflict in Iraq, Afghanistan, Israel, Kosovo, Liberia, Cambodia and Haiti.
Chilling images have surfaced from covering these horrific events, and mainstream media has ignored them. The burning question then presents itself: Why, in this time of technologic advancement and constant coverage, is the public deprived of viewing such eye-opening subjects?
We live in an age where technology is everywhere. The Internet has grown into a mammoth world of information and televisions can now receive over 800 channels. Regardless, such powerful representations are still ignored and it's time to start wondering why.
In the current state of war, we aren't able to see images of our fallen heroes' corpses, and it has caused the detrimental downward spiral of repetition in a media-driven world littered with unique occurrences. It's been said that people have already forgotten about the effects of Vietnam, and we're headed down the same path in regards to the current state. So bringing up the political staple, "If we don't learn from history, we're doomed to repeat it" wouldn't cause the stir we'd ultimately like it to.
The government controls what the media conveys to us, and some people are just numb the fact. Journalists are embedded with a sense of boundaries, and that's not the way such a profession can operate. What if horrific photos from the trenches of war were seen by our society? Would the war have gone this far?
"Absolutely, [this war] should've never started, but who knows," Stone said, of the idea. "We'll never know because of the information held from us."
It's unfair to blame a crisis solely on the government's chokehold on the media, but it's necessary to recognize that awareness would become more intensified if its tentacles loosened its grip.
Pondering how much such images matter can't begin until the manipulation ends. Right now, that seems it will end when the war does.
Stone's pictures, and the many others barely treading in the pool of blackballed media products, can tell a thousand words.
It's a shame we can't always listen.
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