Did the media frame the George Floyd protest coverage for white eyes?

In a Mother Jones piece, Ramenda Cyrus analyzes A1 coverage of last year’s George Floyd protests and contends that the media is still relying on old tropes to represent Black Americans. In this episode of Vision Slightly Blurred, Allen and Sarah take a look at her arguments and the supporting voices of author Martin Berger and “Reading the Pictures” publisher Michael Shaw.

Also in the show: The 400 Years Project collects stories of Native Americans, facial recognition errors are preventing people from collecting unemployment, Darnella Frazier receives a special citation from the Pulitzer Prizes for her video of George Floyd being murdered, Emily Ratajkowski sells her NFT for $175,000, and books from Ben Brody, Sebastiao Salgado, and Todd Bigelow.

We mention the following photographers, articles, and websites in this episode:

• Happy National Selfie Day! Paris Hilton claims to have invented the selfie.
• The 400 Years Project Looks At Native American Identity Through The Native Lens (via NPR)
• Indigenous Photograph
• Facial recognition software used to verify unemployment recipients reportedly doesn’t work well (via The Verge)
• How the George Floyd Uprising Was Framed for White Eyes (via Mother Jones)
• Reuters photojournalist of the year: Carlos Barria
• Darnella Frazier, the teen who filmed George Floyd’s murder, awarded a Pulitzer citation (via WashPo)
• Darnella Frazier, the teenager who filmed George Floyd’s arrest, testifies at the trial. (via NYT)
• Emily Ratajkowski Sold Her NFT Artwork for $175,000 After Her ‘Copyright Nightmare’ With a Contentious New York Artist (via Cheat Sheet)
• How many layers of copyright infringement are in Emily Ratajkowski’s new NFT? (via The Verge)
• “Relentless Absurdity”: An Army Photographer’s Censored Images (via New Yorker)
• Ben Brody’s Attention Servicemember
• ‘Paradise exists!’: Sebastião Salgado’s stunning voyage into Amazônia (via The Guardian)
• Sebastião Salgado’s Amazônia
• Todd Bigelow’s The Freelance Photographer’s Guide To Success: Business Essentials

About the Author

Allen Murabayashi is a graduate of Yale University, the Chairman and co-founder of PhotoShelter blog, and a co-host of the “Vision Slightly Blurred” podcast on iTunes. For more of his work, check out his website and follow him on Twitter. The opinions expressed in this article and podcast are solely those of the authors. This article was also published here and shared with permission.