Baptist leader questions GOP's Ford photo

[Judi Lynn]

Baptist leader questions GOP's Ford photo
By TOM HUMPHREY, [e-mail]
October 11, 2006


From http://www.ethicsdaily.com/article_detail.cfm?AID=8006

NASHVILLE — The use of a "dark, distorted picture" of Harold Ford Jr. in a Republican fundraising appeal had racial overtones even if it was not intentionally altered, according to a Baptist ethics leader.
An editorial criticizing the mailer was posted today by Robert Parham, executive director of the Baptist Center for Ethics in Nashville, on the center's Web site, www.ethicsdaily.com.

Parham said he discussed the issue with both Republican and Democratic party officials after seeing a News Sentinel story last week on the questioned photo and fundraising letter.

Those discussions, he said, left some ambiguity about alterations.

Democratic officials, including state Chairman Bob Tuke, say the picture was obviously altered to darken Ford's complexion and the letter included racial "code words."
(snip/...)

http://www.knoxnews.com/kns/election/article/0,1406,KNS_630_5058471,00.html

[greeneyedboy]

1. reminds me of that shaded newsweekly cover w/ OJ Simpson

[Miss Chybil]

2. God forbid he look darker than he is.

That would be shame.

/sarcasm

[Divine Discontent]

5. hmmm

interesting take on it. I can agree with that too... he should say (maybe he did) I don't care how dark they make me, it wouldn't shame me, I'm an African American, but if they did it to intentionally make me look darker to appeal to racists, then yes, that's disgusting.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

3. Hey, at least they left out the "WANTED" language at the bottom.

Be grateful for small favors. And, they could have labeled him a GOPer.

[TheDebbieDee]

16. Good one, Antifaschits!

Thanks for the laugh.....

[KingFlorez]

4. I knew this would happen

The Republican Party is a desperate, collapsing organization

[jmowreader]

6. It's not "racist," it's INEPT!

They made this picture by cutting a photo of Harold Ford out of a newspaper and scanning it on a $79 scanner without descreening it.

See those darker blobs all over the image at question? We call it moiré.

You can make moiré all by yourself, scanner or no. Get two window screens and lay one atop the other. Then rotate the top one. That neat pattern is the moiré.

The Baptists can call it anything they like, but it's just half-ass work.

[Judi Lynn]

7. I think the effect makes him look as if he needs to shave.

It gives him a scruffy look as if he didn't shave the morning before his photo was taken.

The effect is very different from the real photo.

[Journeyman]

8. The black & white graphic looks scanned from a printed piece. . .

you can see moire patterns indicative of pre-screened artwork. Most unusual, even for the opposition, as quality electronic photos are freely available for most high-level political candidates.* With a quality scan in hand, conversion to greyscale can be easily done without tell-tale moire distortions. From there, the photo could be easily darkened and not look like an amateur's slander. As it is, it looks like a lousy scan, one which the operator probably purposely darkened, but could as easily be indicative of poor graphics skills.


*On occasion, clients ask me to include pictures of candidates or graphics for propositions in their newsletters or other promotional materials. I've never had any campaign question my need or even what I intended to use it for, beyond a vague explanation. So getting a quality photo should not have been an issue -- many candidates have them available for anonymous download right from their websites.

[Stand and Fight]

11. I completely concur. n/t

[IndianaGreen]

9. Remember when TIME published a cover with a darkened OJ Simpson?

This was before the trial, and it made him look more menacing. TIME caught a lot of flak for that.

[Stand and Fight]

10. I don't think there was any intentional darkening of the photo.

I do however think that someone did a poor job of converting from a color photo to a gray-scale photo. I do not see the least bit of malice in the photo as printed. It does not appear altered in any fashion... I happen to be a graphic designer, so I'm fairly use to the process. I simply think some amateur did this conversion and badly. It could also be from a bad quality printed image that was scanned and then turned from color to gray-scale.

EDIT: Spell check.

[Journeyman]

12. Yes, but try getting people intent on conspiracies to see. . .

that sometimes it's just the actions of a lousy craftsman, and other times it's just human error.

(I was going to direct you to my my post above, #8, but on refresh I see you've already responded to it.)

[Stand and Fight]

13. Well, let's hope that they will listen to reason.

When you spend as much time engaged in graphic arts (normal media and computers) you begin to see the world in a totally different fashion. I'm on line with you in the belief that this is just the work of an amateur. I can remember when I lived in Oklahoma. I offered someone -- FREE of charge -- to do a tri-fold brochure for a county party elected office. Did she take me up on my offer? No! And we were close friends. She did it herself by employing -- I kid you not -- cut/paste techniques and a typewriter. The greatest likelihood here is that someone decided to do this themselves and did a poor job at it.

[Ezlivin]

17. Huh? What's a histogram?

The person who did this scanned the document, clicked a couple of times and then chose "Print" from the menu. That's the extent of their knowledge.

Do you notice the slow, tortuous death of typography? I see it most frequently on television, where they'll just accept the default kerning of the typeface they're using. It drives me a little crazy to see words that look like V OICE or T ag. I just want to freeze the screen and start putting in ligatures and kerned pairs.

I'll settle down now...

[David Zephyr]

14. Light or dark, Harold Ford is one handsome man & will be a great Senator.

I'm out here in California and I gotta tell you that Harold Ford Jr. is one of our Party's rising stars and that he absolutely wiped the floor with his opponent in the debate broadcast on C-SPAN.

John Kennedy would have been cheering the way that Ford handled himself.

I really think that Harold's gonna win. I think his win would be one of the sweetest in November.

I wish all our candidates were as well-spoken and thoughtful and as intelligent as Ford is.

And, this guy may just wind up being President someday soon. Wouldn't that be a great thing?

Go Harold! Win back Tennessee!

[Judi Lynn]

15. Good news for interested DU'ers: The debate's available on

C-span.org, currently on page #5 of "All Recent Programs"

Tennessee Senate Debate
Rep. Harold Ford, Jr. (D) and Former Chattanooga Mayor Bob Corker (R) take part in the debate for the Tennessee Senate seat. The debate takes place in Memphis, TN. This event is courtesy of WREG-TV.
10/7/2006: MEMPHIS, TN: 59 min.

http://www.c-span.org/VideoArchives.asp?CatCodePairs=,&ArchiveDays=100&Page=5

Thanks for mentioning the debate. I'm looking forward to listening to this later, as well.

[David Zephyr]

18. Hoping everyone at the DU can watch the debate if they missed it.

And thanks for the link, too, Judi Lynn.

Ford is the best debater our party has this election cycle. He is simply flawless.

[MGKrebs]

19. I just love it that Dems are finding the courage

and the resources to fight all these battles all over the place all the time.

FIGHT BACK!

[jody]

20. Has the GOP lightened pictures of any African-Americans who support Bush?

e.g.



vs.