AP media bias or editorial oops?

If you haven’t seen it on social media yet, you’re behind on this story. Senator (and presidential hopeful) Ted Cruz spoke at a pro-2nd amendment event recently. AP photographer Charlie Neibergall snapped a number of photos. You know how professional photographers are. They shoot a few hundred (or more!) at an event and pick out the best for publication.

What the AP chose to publish was a profile photo of Cruz with a poster of a gun pointing at this head in the background. And they didn’t just publish one photo like that… they posted several. The backlash has been severe, so severe, in fact, that they’ve since removed the photos from their subscription service.

Breitbart still has one of the photos up along with a thought-provoking editorial (highly recommended reading!):

Imagine that this same AP photographer, instead of shifting a foot to the left or the right, framed a picture with the Senator’s nose almost touching the barrel.

But imagine the outcry were he a Democrat. How many think pieces about violent imagery and responsible reporting would we see? How many more if he were a woman?

Although the AP has taken the photos down and apologized (sort of) for the derogatory imagery, one has to wonder… just what were they thinking? Did they think that was funny? Were they going for shock value? Did they need a bump in ratings (because there’s no such thing as bad press)?

One thing is for certain, it wasn’t because Neibergall was limited in his shooting (pardon the pun) vantage point. He took other photos of Cruz… ones with a more patriotic feel with the American flag as a backdrop. Anyone else think that may have been more appropriate?

Ladies and gentleman, it’s up to us to hold the press accountable for unbiased reporting. This is a perfect example of what happens when you make enough noise and push back for fair, honest, and decent reporting.

H/T Breitbart for the coverage of this media bias.

Photo credit unknown (will gladly attribute if anyone knows!)