CNN vs. Al Jazeera

Picture by CNNPicture by Al Jazeera

The first image appears on the CNN website next to the lead “Turkish riot police attacked hundreds of workers with clubs, tear gas and water cannons to prevent them taking part in a May Day march in Istanbul that was banned by the government.”

Both stories explained that the Turkish police used force to stop a May Day march in Istanbul that had been banned since the 70’s . However, after reading both stories the CNN story seemed framed to make the police look like “the other” and the picture they used only enforces that. In the first picture the police have on gas masks and while I know this is for their safety it makes them look like non-human creatures and the way the image shows them holding the rioter makes them look scary and evil.

In the second picture, the police are shown holding up their shields and attempting to protect themselves. This image makes the police look less evil and scary. In fact, it makes the rioters look like they are “the other” and the police as so much less powerful than the picture shown by CNN. In the image used by Al Jareeza the police appear to be handling the situation as peacefully as possible and attempting to do their best to prevent these unknown “others” from harming civilians.

The images used by each news source definitely fits the framing in each story. And after reading both stories it is obvious each news source undoubtedly has their own bias they can’t seem to overcome.